Victor Sjöström facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Victor Sjöström
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| Born |
Victor David Sjöström
20 September 1879 |
| Died | 3 January 1960 (aged 80) |
| Spouse(s) | Alexandra Stjagoff (1900–1912) Lili Bech (1914–1916) Edith Erastoff (m. 1922; died 1945) |
| Parent(s) | Olof Adolf Sjöström (1841–1896) |
| Awards | NBR Award for Best Actor 1958 Wild Strawberries |
Victor David Sjöström (born September 20, 1879 – died January 3, 1960) was a very important Swedish film director, writer, and actor. In the United States, he was sometimes known as Victor Seastrom. He started his career in Sweden. Later, in 1924, he moved to Hollywood. Sjöström mostly worked during the silent film era. Some of his most famous movies are The Phantom Carriage (1921), He Who Gets Slapped (1924), and The Wind (1928). He was the most famous director in Sweden during the "Golden Age of Silent Film" in Europe. Later in his life, he played the main role in Ingmar Bergman's movie Wild Strawberries (1957).
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Who Was Victor Sjöström?
Victor Sjöström was born in Årjäng/Silbodal, in the Värmland area of Sweden. When he was only one year old, his father, Olof Adolf Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother passed away when he was seven years old, in 1886. After that, Sjöström went back to Sweden. He lived with relatives in Stockholm. He began his acting career at age 17, working with a traveling theater group.
How Did He Start in Movies?
Victor Sjöström moved from the theater stage to the new world of movies. He made his first film in 1912. This movie was directed by Mauritz Stiller. Between 1912 and 1923, Sjöström directed 41 more films in Sweden. Some of these movies are now lost.
What Were His Early Films Like?
Some of his surviving films include The Sons of Ingmar (1919), Karin, Daughter of Ingmar (1920), and The Phantom Carriage (1921). These movies were based on stories by Nobel Prize-winning writer Selma Lagerlöf. Many of his films from this time showed characters in a deep way. They also had great stories and beautiful settings. The Swedish landscape often played a big part in the mood of his films.
Sjöström liked to film outside, especially in country and village areas. This made his movies look very real. He was also one of the first to use continuity editing. This is a way of putting film scenes together smoothly to tell a story.
His Time in Hollywood
In 1923, Victor Sjöström got an offer to work in the United States from Louis B. Mayer. In Sweden, he had acted in his own films and others. But in Hollywood, he only directed movies. He used an Americanized name, Victor Seastrom.
His first American film was Name the Man (1924). This drama was based on a book by Hall Caine. He directed famous stars like Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lillian Gish, Lon Chaney, and Norma Shearer. He made eight more films in America before his first talkie (a movie with sound) in 1930.
Returning to Sweden and Later Career
Victor Sjöström found it difficult to direct movies with sound. So, he went back to Sweden. There, he directed two more films. His last directing job was an English movie filmed in the United Kingdom called Under the Red Robe (1937).
For the next 15 years, Sjöström went back to acting in plays. He also played many main roles in over a dozen films. He was also a director for the company Svensk Film Industri. When he was 78, he gave his last acting performance. This is probably his most remembered role. He played an elderly professor named Isak Borg in Ingmar Bergman's film Wild Strawberries (1957).
Victor Sjöström's Family Life
Victor Sjöström was married three times. His daughter, Guje Lagerwall (1918-2019), also became an actress.
Victor Sjöström passed away in Stockholm when he was 80 years old. He was buried in the Norra begravningsplatsen (Northern cemetery).
Images for kids
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A friendly robot.
See also
In Spanish: Victor Sjöström para niños
