Mai Zetterling
Mai Zetterling | |
---|---|
Born | Mai Elisabeth Zetterling 24 May 1925 Västerås, Sweden |
Died | 17 March 1994 London, England | (aged 68)
Occupation(s) | Actress, film director |
Years active | 1941–1994 |
Spouses | |
Children | 2 |
Mai Elisabeth Zetterling (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈmajː ˈsɛ̂tːɛˌɭɪŋ]; 24 May 1925 – 17 March 1994)[1] was a Swedish film director, novelist and actress.[2][3][4][5][6]
Early life
Zetterling was born in Västerås, Sweden to a working class family.[7] She started her career as an actor at the age of 17 at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, the Swedish national theatre, appearing in war-era films.
Career
Zetterling appeared in film and television productions spanning six decades from the 1940s to the 1990s. Her breakthrough as an actress came in the 1944 film Torment written for her[8] by Ingmar Bergman, in which she played a controversial role as a tormented shopgirl. Shortly afterwards she moved to England and gained instant success there with her title role in Basil Dearden's Frieda (1947) playing opposite David Farrar.[9]
After a brief return to Sweden in which she worked with Bergman again in his film Music in Darkness (1948), she returned to Britain and starred in a number of UK films. Some of her notable films as an actress include Quartet (1948), a film based on some of W. Somerset Maugham's short stories, The Romantic Age (1949) directed by Edmond T. Gréville, Only Two Can Play (1962) co-starring Peter Sellers and directed by Sidney Gilliat, and The Witches (1990), an adaptation of Roald Dahl's book directed by Nicolas Roeg. Having gained a reputation as a sex symbol in dramas and thrillers, she was equally effective in comedies, and was active in British television in the 1950s and 1960s.[9]
In 1960 she appeared in Danger Man as Nadia in the episode "The Sisters".[10]
She began directing and publishing novels and non-fiction in the early 1960s, her films starting with political documentaries and a short film titled The War Game (1963), which was nominated for a
When critics reviewing her debut feature stated that "Mai Zetterling directs like a man",[13] she began to explore feminist themes more explicitly in her work. The Girls, which had an all-star Swedish cast that included Bibi Andersson and Harriet Andersson, discussed women's liberation (or lack thereof) in a society controlled by men, as the protagonists compare their lives to characters in the play Lysistrata, and find that things have not progressed very much for women since ancient times. In 1966, she appeared as a storyteller on the BBC children's programme Jackanory, and in five episodes narrated Tove Jansson's Finn Family Moomintroll.[14]
Personal life
Zetterling was married to Norwegian actor Tutte Lemkow from 1944 to 1953. They had a daughter, Etienne and a son, Louis, who is professor of environmental sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She published an autobiography, All Those Tomorrows.[15] From 1958 to 1979, she was married to British author David Hughes, who collaborated with her on her first films as director.
Documents at the National Archives in London show that, as a member of the
Death
On 17 March 1994, a year after her final role on television, Zetterling died from cancer at her home in London. She was 68 years old.[7][18][19]
Filmography
As Director
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1990 | Sunday Pursuit | |
1990 | Chiller (TV series) | |
1989 | Crossbow (TV series) | |
1986 | Betongmormor | |
1986 | Amorosa | |
1985 | The Hitchhiker (TV series) | |
1983 | Scrubbers | [20][21] |
1982 | Love | segments "Love From the Market Place",
"The Black Cat in the Black Mouse Socks", and "Julia" |
1977 | The Moon is a Green Cheese | |
1976 | We Have Many Names | |
1973 | Visions of Eight | [22][23] |
1972 | Vincent the Dutchman | [24] |
1968 | The Girls (Flickorna) | [25][26][27] |
1968 | Doctor Glas | [28] |
1966 | Night Games (Nattlek) | [29][30] |
1964 | Loving Couples (Älskande par) | [30][31] |
1963 | The War Game | |
1961 | Lords of Little Egypt | [32] |
As Actor
Year | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|
1993 | Grandpa's Journey | |
1990 | The Witches | [33][34][35][36] |
1990 | Hidden Agenda | |
1965 | The Vine Bridge | |
1963 | The Man Who Finally Died | |
1963 | Operation Mermaid | |
1962 | The Main Attraction | |
1962 | Only Two Can Play | [37][38] |
1961 | Offbeat | |
1960 | Piccadilly Third Stop | |
1960 | Faces in the Dark | |
1959 | Jet Storm | |
1958 | Playing on the Rainbow | |
1958 | The Master Builder | |
1957 | The Truth About Women | [39] |
1957 | Seven Waves Away
(Alternate Tiles Abandon Ship! and Seven Days From Now) |
[40][41] |
1956 | A Doll's House | |
1955 | A Prize of Gold | [42] |
1954 | Knock on Wood | [43][44][45] |
1954 | Dance Little Lady | [46] |
1953 | Desperate Moment | [47] |
1952 | The Tall Headlines | |
1952 | The Ringer | |
1951 | Hell Is Sold Out | |
1951 | Blackmailed | |
1949 | The Lost People | |
1949 | The Bad Lord Byron | [48] |
1949 | The Romantic Age | |
1948 | Quartet | |
1948 | Portrait from Life | |
1948 | Music in Darkness | |
1948 | Life Starts Now | |
1947 | Frieda | [49][50] |
1946 | Iris and the Lieutenant | |
1946 | Sunshine Follows Rain | |
1944 | Torment | [43][51][52][53] |
1944 | Prince Gustaf | |
1943 | I Killed | |
1941 | Lasse-Maja |
Works
- Zetterling, Mai (1968). Night Games. Panther Books. OCLC 936919503.
- Zetterling, Mai (1976). Bird of Passage. St. Martin's Press. OCLC 2424469.
References
- ^ "DEATHS - The Washington Post". 26 February 2012. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "The 100 greatest films directed by women: Who voted? L-Z". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ a b Collins, Glenn (19 March 1994). "Mai Zetterling, 68, Film Actress With a Second Career in Directing". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2010.
- ^ "Mai Zetterling, 68; Swedish Film Actress Turned Director". Los Angeles Times. 19 March 1994. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
- ^ a b "Where to begin with Mai Zetterling". BFI. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ "The Danger Man Website". danger-man.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
- ^ "Mai Zetterling profile". Retrieved 17 November 2023.
- ^ "Sexuality in '60s Cinema: 'Three Films by Mai Zetterling'". www.popmatters.com. 16 February 2023. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Mai Zetterling". www.tcm.com. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 28 February 1966. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ISBN 0-394-55602-X
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ "Cinema: Swansea-set 1960s film attracted the attention of MI5". BBC News. 11 December 2022. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ "Actress Mai Zetterling Dead at 68". AP NEWS. 18 March 1994. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
- UPI. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ "BBC Programme Index | Vincent the Dutchman". genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. 22 July 1973. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ "BBC Four - Lords of Little Egypt: Mai Zetterling Among the Gypsies". BBC. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ "The Witches | Film | The Guardian". theguardian.com. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
Further reading
- Larsson, Mariah (14 January 2020). A Cinema of Obsession: The Life and Work of Mai Zetterling. University of Wisconsin Pres. ISBN 978-0-299-32230-4.
External links
- Mai Zetterling at IMDb
- Portraits of Mai Zetterling at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Mai Zetterling at the Swedish Film Database
- Mai Zetterling at the BFI's Screenonline
- Mai Elisabet Zetterling at Biographical Dictionary of Swedish Women
- Mai Zetterling at Encyclopedia.com
- Mai Zetterling at Nordic Women In Film
- Mai Zetterling at Britannica
- Mai Zetterling Archives
- Mai Zetterling at Nationalencyklopedins Internettjänst