Ernst Ingmar Bergman, born on July 14, 1918, was named the world's greatest living filmmaker by "Time" magazine in 2005.  Ingmar Bergman of Uppsala, Uppsala län, Sweden is the man who innovative visionaries like Steven Spielberg and Woody Allen cite as one of their biggest inspirations. Because Bergman was born to a priest father who would later be chaplain to the King of Sweden, among other interesting facts about his life, his family was depicted in the biographical series Goda viljan, Den (translation: The Best Intentions) in 1992 and Enskilda samtal ( translation: Private Confessions) in 1996.  Ingmar Bergman’s life and career were storied and left an indelible mark in the directing and theatre worlds.

Bergman’s career began with his managing a puppet theater.  Soon, he transitioned to rewriting scripts and writing his own plays, which led to his writing a play entitled Kaspers död (translation: Kaspers Death).  It was turned into a movie by the company Swedish Film Industry.  Bergman was deemed a talent and had his first expressly written screenplay Hets (translation: Torment) made into film in 1944.  And this movie was the first directing gig for Bergman as well.

Nominated for 9 Oscars, Bergman was known for what would become known as the “Bergmanesque” style.  Close-up face shots and clock shots and the purposeful use of shadows in scenes were characteristics of most of Bergman’s films.  Approximately 60 awards and 14 nominations littered his career, which was filled with films that dealt with the mind and soul struggles experienced by all.   He focused a lot on common family conflicts like in the movie 1957 Smultronsmallet (translation: Wild Strawberries) that contained the extensive use of dreams and flashback to tell the motivation behind characters behaviors.  

And the surrealistic 1982 Fanny och Alexander (translation: Fanny and Alexander) also delved into the topic of familial relations in an almost a horror film way. The 1973 Scener ur ett aktenskap (translation: Scenes From a Marriage) continues the theme of family, leading to the autobiographical works Goda viljan, Den and others.  Persona was the story of the clash between women, doctor and patient, and is considered Bergman’s masterpiece. His movies 1960’s Jungfrukallan (translation: The Virgin Spring), 1961’s Såsom i en spegel (translation: Through a Glass Darkly) and 1982’s Fanny och Alexander (translation: Fanny and Alexander)) all won Oscars for "Best Foreign Language Film".

 

Except for minor disputes, such as the one he had concerning the production of the project Misantropen (translation: The Misanthrope) Bergman ahs a very fruitful relationship with the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theater.  The father of nine had a son, Daniel Bergman, to become a director and another son, Mats Bergman, to become an actor at this theater. And just as between 1963 to 1966, when Bergman hired as many theater Swedish actors as possible, the prolific artist had several constant partners in his film work like Erland Josephson who appeared in 14 of his films and both Max von Sydow and Bibi Andersson with whom he made 13 films apiece. 

The year 1976 brought a tax evasion case for Bergman that forced him to move to Munich, Germany after living a bulk of his life on Faro Island.  His ever eventful life contained 4 marriages and 1 divorce.  Voted the 8th Greatest Film Director by “Entertainment Weekly”, Bergman  donated his film footage, pictures and manuscripts to a foundation that honored him in 2002 as well as published in 2004  Tre dagböcker (translation: Three Diaries) which were his journals along with the writings of  one of his wife’s and one of his daughter’s.

The legendary director Bergman, who even had a Van Halen song entitled Seventh Seal written in tribute to his films, retired from both filmmaking in 1984 and directing plays in 2003.  Ingmar Bergman died on July 30, 2007 and was buried on Faro Island.