Actor Max von Sydow, the title character in The Exorcist, has died at 90.
At least he can look forward to some of his mother’s socks.
I was watching him in Shutter Island this weekend. Wasn’t a huge role but he was excellent as always. 10 years ago already.
He was great as the knight inThe Seventh Seal.
He was great as Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told.
He was still pretty darn good as Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon.
He was still entertaining as King Osric in Conan the Barbarian.
He was great as Esbern in Skyrim.
(I know, it was just a video game, but he created a wonderful, fully-formed character).
He was great as Esbern in Skyrim.
(I know, it was just a video game, but he created a wonderful, fully-formed character).
The end…?
He was so good, he was great hamming it up in Strange Brew.
Yes. Every time I get to this part of the game I’m always “oh, I love Max v.S.'s voice, looking forward to seeing Esbern again…”
He apparently also played the three-eyed raven in GOT, but I don’t recall that.
I liked him as missionary Abner Hale in Hawai’i. He did a good job of making the character three-dimensional rather than just a narrow-minded bible thumper.
Did he lose a chess game? 
I’ll always remember him as Joubert in Three Days of the Condor. It’s seems odd that he was only 45 when he made that film. He was also really good in Pelle the Conqueror. R.I.P., Max.
He was the old man who shepherded Bran through some flashbacks, for instance when Hodor’s origin was revealed. Or perhaps you’ll remember the ancient dude dispensing wisdom while stuck in the roots of a tree?
Aw man… Just last night, I was watching Three Days of the Condor and thinking about his peculiar demeanor. Always entertaining to watch and listen to.
Whoa…ninjaed.
IMO, the world’s greatest living actor until yesterday, Mr. von Sydow conveyed a sense of absolute authenticity no matter the part. Perhaps there is no greater testament to his abilities than Flash Gordon, a silly, campy Dino De Horrendous production - which I personally found very entertaining (“Not the bore worms!”) - in which he successfully faced off two critical challenges: retaining his dignity and living up to the iconic Ming the Merciless of the serials, Charles Middleton (if anything, von Sydow is even better in the role).
Some lesser known of his many excellent performances include: Vogler in The Magician (he dominates the film despite being off-screen for much of its latter half); convict Salem in The Night Visitor, dashing through the snow in his underwear on his way to extract a terrible revenge; and Samuel in Intacto, the world’s luckiest man, who meets his match at the climax of a bizarre series of games.
Merrin!
So embarrassed that I thought first of Strange Brew, and only after of The Seventh Seal and The Emigrants.
Well, he does have an IMDb page*, you know.
So right away I think of The Seventh Seal, of course. But The Emigrants/The New Land looms large. Small but nice role in Hannah and Her Sisters.
Like Michael Caine, he has the attitude of just take the job and keep working and working. So a lot of cruft on his resume.
He did the voice of Vigo in the 2009 Ghostbusters game. Gotta search out a clip of that.
- His IMDb “nm…” number seems sort of low. I checked and he’s between Jenna von Oÿ and Lars von Trier. Hmmm.
You could have thought of Flash Gordon first.
I thought Exorcist first. Strange Brew was pretty high on my list though.
He also did the voice of Vigo in Ghostbusters II, not just the video game.
"I, Vigo, the Scourge of Carpathia, the Sorrow of Moldavia, commands you!"
“Oh, command me, lord!”