While his visit to the Star Wars galaxy was brief – the opening moments of The Force Awakens, where Lor San Tekka bravely faced down Kylo Ren – Max Von Sydow gave us a memorable moment, as he did in films across the 70 years of his unique and indelible film career.
Born Carl Adolf von Sydow on 10th April 1929 in Sweden, Von Sydow carved out a career that included roles in films including Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957), horror classic The Exorcist (1973), the enduringly camp Flash Gordon with fellow GFFA star Brian Blessed (1980), under the direction of Irvin Kershner in Never Say Never Again (1983), David Lynch’s Dune (1984), opposite Sylvester Stallone in Judge Dredd (1995), with Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise in Minority Report (2002) and The Force Awakens.
His role as the Three-Eyed Raven in Game of Thrones brought him to that iconic franchise, but he will be best remembered as the knight playing chess against Death in The Seventh Seal. Cinema has lost a great, as has the GFFA, and our condolences go out to his friends and family.
