‘Hey, they were in Game of Thrones’—Where else have you seen these 50 GoT cast members?
21) MAX VON SYDOW
We were darned lucky that one of the grand old men of the silver screen, Max von Sydow, signed up to play the wise and mysterious Three-eyed Raven. He brought the weariness and gravitas the part required.
You could do a PhD dissertation on von Sydow’s roles, but here are a few of the highlights: Father Merrin in The Exorcist (1971), G. Joubert in Three Days of the Condor (1975), King Osric in Conan the Barbarian (1982), Judge Fargo in Judge Dredd (1995) and Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).
It’s pretty much impossible to talk about Sydow’s career without referencing his association with Ingmar Bergman, the brilliant Swedish director with whom he made 13 films, including the classic The Seventh Seal (1957, above). When von Sydow talked to The Guardian in 2012, he discussed working with the legendary filmmaker: “He taught me that when you play classical characters you should not take them too seriously, because they are human. Bergman had a great sense of humour.”
Speaking of humor, von Sydow’s also played Emperor Ming in the super-campy Flash Gordon (1980). It’s one of those popcorn-chawing films that are great because they’re bad, and hey, Queen wrote and performed the soundtrack. He was also in Strange Brew (1983), as all Canadians are aware.
Von Sydow has no releases officially slated for 2017, although his participation in a project entitled Bach has been announced.
