Ingmar Bergman died at age 89

[kwassa]

what a great director he was!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/30/AR2007073000247_pf.html

Film Great Ingmar Bergman Dies at 89

By LOUISE NORDSTROM
The Associated Press
Monday, July 30, 2007; 11:56 AM

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Master filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, one of the greatest artists in cinema history, died Monday at his home on an island off the coast of Sweden. He was 89.

Bergman's dozens of works combined deep seriousness, indelible imagery and unexpected flashes of humor in finely written, inventively shot explorations of difficult subjects such as plague and madness.

His vision encompassed the extremes of his beloved Sweden: the claustrophobic gloom of unending winter nights, its glowing summer evenings and the bleak magnificence of the Baltic islet of Faro, where the reclusive artist spent his last years.

Once described by Woody Allen as "probably the greatest film artist ... since the invention of the motion picture camera," Bergman first gained international attention with 1955's "Smiles of a Summer Night," a romantic comedy that inspired the Stephen Sondheim musical "A Little Night Music."

His last work, of about 60, was "Saraband," a made-for-television movie that aired on Swedish public television in December 2003, the year he retired.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Kick.

[Orrex]

2. I loved him in Casablanca

Oh, wait!


I've only seen about half a dozen of his films, and I'd be lying if I claimed to have found any of them easily accessible, but jeez-o-man what a film-maker!

[flamingyouth]

3. I love his films.

My favorites are "Wild Strawberries" and of course "The Seventh Seal."

I had a wonderful Scandinavian Studies prof at the University of Washington who wrote a couple of books about him. Her name is Birgitta Steene. I think she retired and moved back to Sweden.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. I honestly didn't know that he was alive.

Not to sound morbid or happy about this or anything, but I'm now looking to the Bergman marathons they'll be running on cable.

They did that when Kurosawa died at it was on of the best two or three week periods in television history.