Mai Zetterling
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person
Mai Elisabeth Zetterling ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; 24 May 1925 – 17 March 1994)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was a Swedish film director, novelist and actress.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Early lifeEdit
Zetterling was born in Västerås, Sweden to a working class family.<ref name="NYT">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.
CareerEdit
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<ref name="latimes-1994-03-19-mn-35872">Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref name=":2" />
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.<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1960, she appeared in Danger Man as Nadia in the episode "The Sisters".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
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 BAFTA award, and won a Silver Lion at Venice, both for the Best Short Film. Her directorial feature film debut Älskande par (1964, "Loving Couples"), based on the novels of Agnes von Krusenstjerna, caused a scandal at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival for its sexual explicitness and nudity.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kenneth Tynan of The Observer later called it "one of the most ambitious debuts since Citizen Kane". It was not the only film she made that caused controversy for its frank sexuality.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
When critics reviewing her debut feature stated that "Mai Zetterling directs like a man",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
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.<ref>Template:Cite book New York: Grove, 1986. Template:ISBN</ref> 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 Hollywood Left, she was watched by MI5 as a suspected Communist. It did not hamper her career, however.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
DeathEdit
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.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="apnews-5676170e6e095879133425c128e75df3">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="upi-3737764053200">Template:Cite news</ref>
FilmographyEdit
As Director
| Year | Title | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Love at First Sight | "Sunday Pursuit" | |
| 1990 | Chillers | "The Stuff of Madness" | |
| 1989 | Crossbow | "The Children," The Wind Wagon," and "Forbidden Land" | |
| 1986 | Betongmormor | Short film | |
| 1986 | Amorosa | ||
| 1985 | The Hitchhiker | "And If We Dream," "Hired Help," and "Murderous Feelings" | |
| 1983 | Scrubbers | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 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 | <ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1972 | Vincent the Dutchman | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1968 | The Girls (Flickorna) | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1968 | Doctor Glas | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1966 | Night Games (Nattlek) | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite magazine</ref> | |
| 1964 | Loving Couples (Älskande par) | <ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1963 | The War Game | Short film | |
| 1961 | Lords of Little Egypt | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
As Actor
WorksEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0955195
| name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0955195|2=^nm}}
| Template:Trim/
| nm0955195/
}}
| {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
| name/Template:First word/
| find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
}}
}}{{#if: 0955195 {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch:
| award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
}}}} {{#if:
| {{{name}}}
| Template:PAGENAMEBASE
}}] at IMDb{{#if: 0955195{{#property:P345}}
| Template:EditAtWikidata
| Template:Main other
}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=0955195|plain=false}}
| 1 | 3 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}
- Template:NPG name
- Template:Sfdb name
- Template:Screenonline name
- Template:SKBL 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 InternettjänstTemplate:Closed access