Swedish actress and Ingmar Bergman’s muse, Bibi Andersson dies at the age of 83. Best known for her roles in Wild Strawberries (1957), The Seventh Seal (1957) and Persona (1966), she collaborated with Ingmar Bergman in many other films.
Born as Berit Elisabeth Andersson the actress first worked with Ingmar on a soap commercial in 1951. She made her name as Elma in 1966’s Persona which got her the Best Actress Award at the 4th Guldbagge Awards which is the Swedish honoree award equivalent to the Academy Awards.
Due to prolonged illness, Bibi Andersson died on Sunday, in Stockholm at the age of 83. “She has been sick for many years, but it is sad. I found out that Bibi passed away lunchtime today,” her longtime friend and a film director Christina Olofsson confirmed her death to the Stockholm news outlet Aftonbladet.
Bibi Anderson in Ingmar Bergman’s Wild StrawberriesShe had been living in a Swedish nursing home ever since Andersson suffered from a stroke in 2009, which left her unable to speak making it ironic to her counterpart’s turn in Bergman’s Persona. Winning hearts of the many with her defying roles in major films, she also won Silver Bear for Best Actress award in 1963 at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival for her role in Vilgot Sjöman’s film “The Mistress”.
While she is well known in Sweden, the world cinema audience knows of her because of her constant collaboration with legendary filmmaker Ingmar Bergan. She worked with him on more than 15 films. Having worked in more than 50 films, Bibi would be especially remembered for her incredible turns in John Huston’s “The Kremlin Letter” and Robert Altman’s “Quintet.” In her early years, she joined the Dramaten (Royal Dramatic Theatre) and continued acting in films throughout her career. In the late 1990s, she started directing several plays for the Dramaten which is a Sweden’s National Stage.
She was survived by her daughter Jenny Grede and her husband, Gabriel Mora Baeza
