Harriet Andersson
Harriet Andersson (born 14 January 1932 in Stockholm) is a Swedish actress, best known for being one of Ingmar Bergman's regular actresses. She often played working class characters and established a reputation on screen for her spontaneous, youthful, full-lipped sensuality.
She met Bergman at Malmö stadsteater in the early 1950s, when she was working as an elevator attendant. They had a romantic relationship and it was during this time he helped launch her film career. Her breakthrough role in Summer with Monika (1952) had been specifically written for her by Bergman. The film was particularly notable for Andersson's nude scene, one of the first in postwar European cinema, inspired by Hedy Lamarr's notorious skinny-dipping scene in Ecstasy.
Although the romantic relationship with Bergman was short-lived, they continued to work together and she appeared in several of his best known films, including Smiles of a Summer Night, Through a Glass Darkly, Cries and Whispers, and Fanny and Alexander. Like a number of other Bergman regulars, she also had a brief international career. She made her English-language debut in Sidney Lumet's The Deadly Affair (1966) and has most recently appeared in Lars von Trier's Dogville.
Harriet Andersson is married to the Finnish director, Jörn Donner, and she appeared in Donner's 1961 film, To Love. She gave birth to a daughter in 1960 whom she named Petra, after her character in Smiles of a Summmer Night.
Andersson has won several awards for her acting, including the Swedish Guldbagge Award, the Norwegian Amanda and best actress awards on the Venice Film Festival (1964) and the Moscow International Film Festival (1975).
Selected filmography
- Dogville (2003)
- Fanny and Alexander (1982)
- Cries and Whispers (1972)
- The Deadly Affair (1966)
- All These Women (1964)
- To Love (1961)
- Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
- Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
- Dreams (1955)
- A Lesson in Love (1954)
- Sawdust and Tinsel (1953)
- Summer with Monika (1953)
External links
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