Liv Ullmann

Liv Ullmann
Ullmann in 2024
Born	(1938-12-16) 16 December 1938 (age 85) Tokyo, Empire of Japan
Nationality	Norwegian
Occupation(s)	Actress, director, screenwriter
Years active	1957–present
Spouses	Hans Jakob Stang ​ ​ (m. 1960; div. 1965)​ Donald Richard Saunders ​ ​ (m. 1985; div. 1995)​
Partner	Ingmar Bergman (1965–1970)
Children	Linn Ullmann
Family	Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (grandson)

Liv Johanne Ullmann (born 16 December 1938)^[1] is a Norwegian actress.^[2] Recognised as one of the greatest European actresses of all time, Ullmann is known as the muse and frequent collaborator of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman.^[3][4][5] She acted in many of his films, including Persona (1966), Cries and Whispers (1972), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), The Passion of Anna (1969), and Autumn Sonata (1978).

Ullmann won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama in 1972 for the film The Emigrants ^[6] and has been nominated for another four.^[6] In 2000, she was nominated for the Palme d'Or for her second directorial feature film, Faithless.^[7][2] She has received two BAFTA Award nominations,^[8] and two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress, for The Emigrants ^[9] and Ingmar Bergman's Face to Face.^[9] On March 25, 2022, Ullmann was presented with an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her "bravery and emotional transparency that has gifted audiences with deeply affecting screen portrayals".^[9][10][11]

Early life

Ullmann was born in Tokyo, Japan, the daughter of Norwegian parents, Erik Viggo Ullmann (1907–1945), an aircraft engineer who was working in Tokyo at the time, and Janna Erbe (née Lund; 1910–1996).^[12]

Her grandfather was sent to the Dachau concentration camp during World War II for helping Jews escape from the town where he lived in Norway; he died in this camp.^[13] When she was two years old, the family moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where her father worked at the Norwegian air force base on Toronto Island (in Lake Ontario) during the Second World War.^[14] The family moved to New York, where four years later, her father died after a lengthy hospitalization from head injuries due to being struck by an airplane propeller, his death affecting her greatly.^[14][15] Her mother worked as a bookseller, while raising two daughters.^[16] They eventually moved to Norway, settling in Trondheim.^[17]

Career

Ullmann with her mother Janna in 1959

Ullmann in 1966

Ullmann began her acting career as a stage actress in Norway during the mid-1950s. She continued to act in theatre for most of her career and became noted for her portrayal of Nora in Henrik Ibsen's play A Doll's House.

She became better known once she started to work with Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman. She later acted, with acclaim, in 10 of his movies, including Persona (1966), The Passion of Anna (1969), Cries and Whispers (1972), and Autumn Sonata (1978), in the last of which her co-actress Ingrid Bergman resumed her own Swedish cinema career. She co-acted often with Swedish actor and fellow Bergman collaborator Erland Josephson, with whom she made the Swedish television drama Scenes from a Marriage (1973), which was also edited to feature-movie length and distributed theatrically. Ullmann acted with Laurence Olivier in A Bridge Too Far (1977), directed by Richard Attenborough.

Nominated more than 40 times for awards, including various lifetime achievement awards, she won the best actress prize three times from the National Society of Film Critics, three times from the National Board of Review, received three awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, and a Golden Globe. During 1971, Ullmann was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the movie The Emigrants, and again during 1976 for the movie Face to Face.

Ullmann made her New York City stage debut in 1975 also in A Doll's House. Appearances in Anna Christie and Ghosts followed, as well as the less than successful musical version of I Remember Mama. This show, composed by Richard Rodgers, experienced numerous revisions during a long preview period, then closed after 108 performances. She also featured in the widely deprecated musical movie remake of Lost Horizon during 1973. In 1977, when she appeared on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre in Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, The New York Times said that she "glowed with despair and hope, and was everything one could have wished her to have been" in a performance "not to be missed and never to be forgotten", with her "grace and authority" that was "perhaps more than Garbo...born for Anna Christie:--Or more properly, Anna Christie was born for her."^[18]

In 1980, Brian De Palma, who directed Carrie, wanted Liv Ullmann to play the role of Kate Miller in the erotic crime thriller Dressed to Kill and offered it to her, but she declined because of the violence.^[19] The role subsequently went to Angie Dickinson. In 1982, Ingmar Bergman wanted Ullmann to play Emelie Ekdahl in his last feature film, Fanny and Alexander, and wrote the role with this in mind.^[20] She declined it, feeling the role was too sad. She later stated in interviews that turning it down was one of the few things she really regretted.^[20]

Princess Juliana of the Netherlands and Liv Ullmann at the Four Freedoms Award ceremony in Middelburg on 23 June 1984

During 1984, she was chairperson of the jury at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival,^[21] and during 2001 chaired the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. She introduced her daughter, Linn Ullmann, to the audience with the words: "Here comes the woman whom Ingmar Bergman loves the most". Her daughter was there to receive the Prize of Honour on behalf of her father; she would return to serve the jury herself during 2011. She published two autobiographies, Changing (1977) and Choices (1984).

Ullmann's first film as a director was Sofie (1992); her friend and former co-actor, Erland Josephson, starred on it. She later directed the Bergman-composed movie Faithless (2000). Faithless garnered nominations for both the Palme d'Or and Best Actress category at the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2003, Ullmann reprised her role for Scenes from a Marriage in Saraband (2003), Bergman's final telemovie. Her previous screen role had been in the Swedish movie Zorn (1994).

In 2004, Ullmann revealed that she had received an offer in November 2003 to play in three episodes of the American television series, Sex and the City.^[22] She was amused by the offer, and said that it was one of the few programs she regularly watched, but she turned it down.^[23] Later that year, Steven Soderbergh wrote a role in the movie Ocean's 12 especially for her, but she also turned that down.^[24]

During 2006, Ullmann announced that she had been forced to end her longtime wish of making a film based on A Doll's House. According to her statement, the Norwegian Film Fund was preventing her and writer Ketil Bjørnstad from pursuing the project. Australian actress Cate Blanchett and British actress Kate Winslet had been cast intended in the main roles of the movie. She later directed Blanchett in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, at the Sydney Theatre Company in Sydney, which was performed September through October 2009, and then continued from 29 October to 21 November 2009 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., where it won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Non-resident Production as well as actress and supporting performer for 2009. The play was also performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn, New York. Ullmann narrated the Canada–Norway co-produced animated short movie The Danish Poet (2006), which won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards during 2007.

In 2008, she was the head of the jury at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival.^[25]

During 2012, she attended the International Indian Film Academy Awards in Singapore, where she was honored for her Outstanding Contributions to International Cinema and she also showed her movie on her relationship with Ingmar Bergman.^[26] In 2013, Ullmann directed a film adaptation of Miss Julie. The film, released in September 2014, stars Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton.^[27] It was widely praised by the Norwegian press.

In 2018, Ullmann narrated Wars Don't End, a documentary about the Lebensborn war children.^[28]

In March 2022 it was announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that Ullmann would receive the Academy Honorary Award.^[29][30] John Lithgow presented her with the statue at the Governors Awards saying, "For those few who claim that she never would've been called one of our greatest actors without Ingmar Bergman, I would answer, Bergman would probably never been called one of our greatest filmmakers without Liv Ullman".^[31]

Personal life

Ullmann with director Ingmar Bergman in 1968

Ullmann was married to Norwegian psychiatrist Hans Jakob Stang from 1960 until 1965. She met Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and the two had a relationship that lasted from 1965 to 1970.^[32] Writer Linn Ullmann (b. 1966) is their daughter. In 1985, Ullman married Boston real estate developer Donald Saunders, and they remained together after their 1995 divorce.^[33][34]

Honors and causes

She is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador,^[35] and has traveled widely for the organization. She is also co-founder and honorary chair of the Women's Refugee Commission.

In 2005, King Harald V of Norway made Ullmann a Commander with Star of the Order of St. Olav.^[36] She received an honorary degree, a Doctorate of Philosophy, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 2006.^[37]

Acting and filmmaking credits

Film

As actress

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1957	Fjols til fjells	Hotel Guest	Edith Carlmar	Uncredited extra
1959	The Wayward Girl	Gerd
1962	Tonny	Kari	Nils R. Müller Per Gjersøe
	Kort är sommaren
1965	De kalte ham Skarven		Wilfred Breistrand Erik Folke Gustavson
1966	Persona	Elisabet Vogler	Ingmar Bergman
1968	Hour of the Wolf	Alma Borg
	Shame	Eva Rosenberg
1969	An-Magritt	An-Magritt	Arne Skouen
	The Passion of Anna	Anna Fromm	Ingmar Bergman
1970	Cold Sweat	Fabienne Martin	Terence Young
1971	The Emigrants	Kristina	Jan Troell
	The Night Visitor	Ester Jenks	László Benedek
1972	The New Land	Kristina	Jan Troell
	Cries and Whispers	Maria (and her mother)	Ingmar Bergman
	Pope Joan	Pope Joan	Michael Anderson
1973	Scenes from a Marriage	Marianne	Ingmar Bergman
	40 Carats	Ann Stanley	Milton Katselas
	Lost Horizon	Katherine	Charles Jarrott
1974	Zandy's Bride	Hannah Lund	Jan Troell
	The Abdication	Queen Kristina	Anthony Harvey
1975	Léonor	Léonor	Juan Luis Buñuel
1976	Face to Face	Dr. Jenny Isaksson	Ingmar Bergman
1977	The Serpent's Egg	Manuela Rosenberg
	A Bridge Too Far	Kate ter Horst	Richard Attenborough
1978	Autumn Sonata	Eva	Ingmar Bergman
1979	Players	Tennis Spectator	Anthony Harvey	Uncredited
1980	Richard's Things	Kate Morris
1984	The Wild Duck	Gina	Henri Safran
	The Bay Boy	Mrs. Campbell	Daniel Petrie
	Dangerous Moves	Marina Fromm	Richard Dembo
1986	Let's Hope It's a Girl	Elena	Mario Monicelli
1987	Gaby: A True Story	Sari	Luis Mandoki
	Farewell Moscow	Ida Nudel	Mauro Bolognini
1988	The Girlfriend	María	Jeanine Meerapfel
1989	The Rose Garden	Gabriele	Fons Rademakers
1991	Mindwalk	Sonia Hoffman	Bernt Amadeus Capra
	Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes	Narrator	George Levenson	Voice; short film
1992	The Long Shadow	Katherine	Vilmos Zsigmond
	The Ox	Mrs. Gustafsson	Sven Nykvist
1994	Dreamplay	Ticket Seller	Unni Straume
2006	The Danish Poet	Narrator	Torill Kove	Voice; short film
2008	Through a Glass, Darkly	Grandmother	Jesper W. Nielsen
2009	Sinna mann	Mother	Anita Killi	Voice; English version
2012	Two Lives	Åse	Judith Kaufmann
	Liv & Ingmar	Herself	Dheeraj Akolkar	Documentary
2018	Wars Don't End	Narrator		Voice; documentary

As director

Year	Film	Distribution
1992	Sofie	Pathé
1995	Kristin Lavransdatter	HVE Entertainment
1996	Private Confessions
2000	Faithless	AB Svensk Filmindustri
2014	Miss Julie	Columbia TriStar

Television

Year	Title	Role
1963	Onkel Vanja
1965	Smeltedigelen	Mary Warren
1966	En hyggelig fyr	Mabel
	Måken	Sonja
1967	Cocktailselskapet	Celia
1975	Trollflöjten	Woman in Audience
1979	The Lady from the Sea	Ellida Wangel
1983	Jenny	Jenny Winge
	Jacobo Timerman: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number	Mrs. Jacobo Timerman
1988	Gli indifferenti	Maria Grazia
1994	Zorn	Emma Zorn
2003	Saraband	Marianne
2011	Long Day's Journey into Night	Mary Tyrone

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue
1975	A Doll's House	Nora Helmer	Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway
1977	Anna Christie	Anna Christopherson	Imperial Theatre, Broadway
1979	I Remember Mama	Mama	Majestic Theatre, Broadway
1982	Ghosts	Mrs. Helen Alving	Brooks Atkinson Theatre, Broadway
2019	Liv	Herself
2021	American Moth		Grieg Hall

Awards and recognition

Year	Award	Category	Project	Result	Ref
1968	National Society of Film Critics Award	Best Actress	Hour of the Wolf	Won
	Guldbagge Award	Best Actress in a Leading Role		Won	[38]
1968	National Board of Review Award	Best Actress	Shame	Won
1971	Academy Awards	Best Actress	The Emigrants	Nominated	[9]
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama		Won	[6]
1972	National Board of Review Award	Best Actress	The New Land	Won
1972	New York Film Critics Circle Award	Best Actress	Cries and Whispers	Won
1973	British Academy of Film and Television Arts	Best Actress in a Leading Role	Scenes from a Marriage	Nominated	[8]
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama		Nominated	[6]
	National Society of Film Critics Award	Best Actress		Won
	New York Film Critics Circle Award	Best Actress		Won
	David di Donatello Awards	Best Foreign Actress		Won	[39]
1973	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	40 Carats	Nominated	[6]
1974	David di Donatello Awards	David Special Award		Won	[39]
1976	Academy Awards	Best Actress	Face to Face	Nominated	[9]
	British Academy of Film and Television Arts	Best Actress in a Leading Role		Nominated	[8]
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama		Nominated	[6]
	National Board of Review Award	Best Actress		Won
	New York Film Critics Circle Award	Best Actress		Won
	Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award	Best Actress		Won
1978	David di Donatello Awards	Best Foreign Actress	Autumn Sonata	Won	[39]
1986		Best Actress	Let's Hope It's a Girl	Nominated	[39]
1987			Farewell Moscow	Nominated	[39]
1988	San Sebastián International Film Festival	Best Actress	The Girlfriend	Won
1989	Golden Globe Awards	Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama	The Rose Garden	Nominated	[6]
1992	Montreal World Film Festival	Special Grand Prize of the Jury	Sofie	Won
1996	Chicago International Film Festival	Gold Hugo	Private Confessions	Nominated
2000	Cannes Film Festival	Palme d'Or	Faithless	Nominated	[7][40]
2000	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Director	Best Director		Nominated
	Goya Award	Best European Film		Nominated
2021	Academy Awards	Academy Honorary Award		Won	[9]

Honors

• 1984: Four Freedoms Laureate, Freedom from Want
• 2006: Ibsen Centennial Commemoration Award
• 2006: The Danish Poet won its director Torill Kove the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 79th Academy Awards.
• 2010: 2010 FIAF Award ^[41]
• 2012: International Indian Film Academy Awards for Outstanding Contribution to International Cinema

See also

• List of film and television directors
• List of theatre directors in the 20th-21st centuries
• List of Norwegian actors
• List of Norwegian writers

References

1. Larsen, Svend Erik Løken (30 August 2017). "Liv Ullmann". Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2018 – via Store norske leksikon.
2. "Liv ULLMANN - Festival de Cannes". 13 August 2023. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
3. Holden, Stephen (12 December 2013). "A Filmmaker's Hold on His Muse". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
4. Solway, Diane (October 2009). "Liv the Life". W Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
5. Hattenstone, Simon (3 February 2001). "A Lifelong Liaison". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
6. "Liv Ullmann". Golden Globes. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
7. "TROLOSA". Festival de Cannes (in French). Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
8. "BAFTA Awards Search | BAFTA Awards". awards.bafta.org. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
9. "Academy Awards Search | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences". awardsdatabase.oscars.org. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
10. Beckett, Lois (26 March 2022). "'This is going to be cherished': Samuel L Jackson and Elaine May receive honorary Oscars". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
11. "ABC News 06/24/21 Honorary Academy Award Recipients Announced". ABC News. Archived from the original on 22 November 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
12. "Family tree of Liv ULLMANN".
13. Hattenstone, Simon (3 February 2001). "A Lifelong Liaison". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
14. Jones, Donald (10 May 1986). "Unravelling Little Norway's Big Secrets". Toronto Star. p. M03.
15. Ouzounian, Richard (9 September 2014). "TIFF: Liv Ullmann spent 'worst and best times of my life' in Toronto". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
16. "The Bergman connection". The Daily Telegraph. 12 February 2000. Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
17. Marcus, J. S. (17 September 2010). "Liv Ullmann's Return to the Stage". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
18. Barnes, Clive (15 April 1977). "Theater: Liv Ullman's 'Anna Christie'". The New York Times.
19. "Dressed to Kill (1980)". thisdistractedglobe.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
20. "NRK TV – Se Viggo på lørdag". 18 September 2013. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
21. "Berlinale: 1984 Juries". Berlin International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
22. "Sex og singelliv for Liv Ullmann". 21 November 2003. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
23. "Sex og singel-Liv". 20 November 2003. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
24. "Eventyrlig Liv". 15 September 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
25. "30th Moscow International Film Festival (2008)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
26. "Honoured to Share the Dais with Shabana Azmi, Liv Ullmann: Hassan". Mid-Day. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2012.
27. Boehm, Mike (1 February 2013). "Jessica Chastain to star in Liv Ullmann's film of 'Miss Julie'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
28. Akolkar, Dheeraj (26 June 2020). Wars Don't End. Vimeo.
29. Willis, Courtney (26 March 2022). "Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover honored at Governors Awards". The Grio. Archived from the original on 26 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
30. Bahr, Lindsay (24 March 2022). "Liv Ullmann has given out many Oscars. Now she gets her own". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 26 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
31. "John Lithgow honors Liv Ullmann at the 2022 Governors Awards". Youtube. 7 June 2022. Archived from the original on 16 June 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
32. "Liv Ullmann On Love, Passion, Isolation and Friendship in Doc 'Liv & Ingmar'". Film at Lincoln Center. 12 December 2013. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
33. "An Independent Woman". Archived from the original on 23 January 2022. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
34. "A Tale as Complex as the Lives Behind It". Los Angeles Times. 11 February 2001. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
35. "Unicef People". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
36. ^{[dead link‍]}"People: Liv Ullmann, Sharon Stone, Seal". International Herald Tribune. 13 May 2005.
37. "Honorary Doctors". Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Archived from the original on 23 June 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2015.
38. "Skammen (1968)". Swedish Film Institute. 2 March 2014. Archived from the original on 4 September 2015.
39. "Accademia del Cinema Italiano - Premi David di Donatello". www.daviddidonatello.it. Archived from the original on 13 August 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
40. "Festival de Cannes: Faithless". Cannes Film Festival. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2009.
41. "FIAF Award". Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

Further reading

• Robert Emmet Long, ed. (2006). Liv Ullmann: Interviews. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 1-57806-823-1, 1-57806-824-X (paper). Collected interviews with Ullmann.
• David Outerbridge (1979). Without Makeup, Liv Ullmann: A Photo-Biography. New York City: William Morrow and Company. ISBN 0-688-03441-1.
• Liv Ullmann (1977). Changing. New York City: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-41148-X. Autobiography.
• Liv Ullmann (1984). Choices. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-53986-9. ISBN 978-0-394-53986-7. Autobiography.

External links

• Liv Ullmann at the Internet Broadway Database
• Liv Ullmann at IMDb
• Liv Ullmann at the TCM Movie Database
• Liv Ullmann collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Liv Ullmann on Charlie Rose
• The Guardian/NFT interview with Shane Danielson, 23 January 2001 Archived 27 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
• Peter Bradshaw review of Trolösa Archived 27 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 9 February 2001
• A 1980 Interview for the Yugoslav Television on YouTube

Awards
Preceded by Arve Tellefsen	Recipient of the Arts Council Norway Honorary Award 1997	Succeeded by Sverre Fehn