Trivia

His grandmother introduced Ingmar to the cinema and went with him to several shows when he was a little boy, always in secrecy since he wasn't allowed to go to the movies by his strict father.

One of the favorite filmmakers of Andrei Tarkovsky, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Woody Allen, Stanley Kubrick, Wim Wenders, Paul Schrader and Steven Spielberg. Spielberg claimed in an interview to have seen all of Bergman's films.

No relation to Ingrid Bergman, although he was married to another Ingrid, Ingrid Bergman.

Among his fellow directors, he listed the three most significant to him as Federico Fellini, Victor Sjöström and Akira Kurosawa.

Like his fellow World Cinema masters, Akira Kurosawa (who started in the Japanese art world) and Federico Fellini (who started in journalism) he came to cinema via circumvention after working as a theater director.

His Top 11 films are (as presented at Goteborg Film Festival, Sweden in 1994): The Circus (1928), Port of Shadows (1938), The Conductor (1980), Raven's End (1963), The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928). The Phantom Carriage (1921), Rashomon (1950), La Strada (1954), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Marianne & Juliane (1981), Andrei Rublev (1966).

Died on the same day as Michelangelo Antonioni.

He was an admirer of the films of François Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Melville.

He said his favorite Hollywood director was Billy Wilder.

He and Max von Sydow made 13 movies together: The Magician (1958), The Touch (1971), Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957) (not released), The Virgin Spring (1960), Winter Light (1963), Brink of Life (1958), The Passion of Anna (1969), Rabies (1958), The Seventh Seal (1957), Shame (1968), Wild Strawberries (1957), Through a Glass Darkly (1961) and Hour of the Wolf (1968).

After their daughter Maria Von Rosen had been born out of wedlock in 1959, he finally married Ingrid Bergman (Ingrid von Rosen) in 1971. This was his only marriage which didn't end in divorce.

Is buried on the island of Fårö, where he had lived most of his life.

Is going to appear in the new 200 Kronors banknote in 2015.

Was romantically linked to Harriet Andersson from 1952 to 1955 and Bibi Andersson from 1955 to 1959.

Considered Persona (1966) and Cries & Whispers (1972) his best movies.

Has a daughter, Linn Ullmann, with actress Liv Ullmann. Linn, who played a child in several of her father's movies, became a literary critic, then novelist. Her debut novel, in 1999, was "Före du sover" (Before you fall asleep).

Was voted the 8th Greatest Film Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly,.

Was fluent in French.

His movies The Virgin Spring (1960), Through a Glass Darkly (1961) and Fanny and Alexander (1982) were Oscar-nominated for "Best Foreign Language Film". All three movies won.

The Swedish film industry ground to a halt in 1951 due to a ten-month strike by studio personnel, intended as a protest against an "amusement tax" levied against motion picture producers. During this period he directed several TV commercials for a soap called Bris (i.e. Breeze). He later said he was "absurdly grateful" to get this job.

Likes to watch BMX racing on television.

He had an intense dislike of animals, which is why they are sometimes seen dead in his films.

He retired from filmmaking in 1984, and then in 2003, at the age of 85, he retired from directing plays.

For many years, he and actor Erland Josephson have had an hour-long telephone conversation once a week, on Saturdays.

Father of nine children. They include director Daniel Bergman (with Käbi Laretei), actress Anna Bergman, actor Mats Bergman, director Eva Bergman, director Jan Bergman (with Ellen Bergman), actress Lena Bergman, (with Else Fisher), airline captain Ingmar Bergman Jr. (born 1951) (with Gun Grut), writer Linn Ullmann, (with Liv Ullmann) and writer Maria Von Rosen (with Ingrid Bergman).

He and Bibi Andersson made 13 movies together: The Magician (1958), The Touch (1971), The Devil's Eye (1960), All These Women (1964), Brink of Life (1958), Mr. Sleeman Is Coming (1957) (not released), The Passion of Anna (1969), Persona (1966), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), Rabies (1958), The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957) and Smiles of a Summer Night (1955).

Directed 2 actresses to Oscar nominations: Liv Ullmann (Best Actress, Face to Face (1976)) and Ingrid Bergman (Best Actress, Autumn Sonata (1978)).

Was chosen the world's greatest living filmmaker by "Time" magazine (11 July 2005).

Erland Josephson appeared in 14 Bergman films as an actor in a span of almost 60 years (1946-2004): It Rains on Our Love (1946) ("It Rains on Our Love" (1946)), To Joy (1950) ("To Joy" (1950)), The Magician (1958) ("The Magician" (1959)), Brink of Life (1958) ("Brink of Life" (1959)), Hour of the Wolf (1968) ("Hour of the Wolf" (1968)), The Passion of Anna (1969) ("The Passion of Anna" (1970)), Cries & Whispers (1972) ("Cries and Whispers" (1972)), Scenes from a Marriage (1973) ("Scenes from a Marriage" (1974)), The Magic Flute (1975) ("The Magic Flute" (1975)), Face to Face (1976) ("Face to Face (1976)), Autumn Sonata (1978) ("Autumn Sonata" (1978)), Fanny and Alexander (1982), After the Rehearsal (1984) ("After the Rehearsal" (1984)), In the Presence of a Clown (1997) ("In the Presence of a Clown" (1997)), and Saraband (2003). In addition to acting in Bergman's films, Josephson also co-wrote Bergman's All These Women (1964) ("All These Women (1964)), one of Bergman's rare comedies (and his first film shot in color).

Among Woody Allen's biggest idols.

His three favorite movies are: The Emigrants (1971), La Dolce Vita (1960) and Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953).

The rock band Van Halen wrote a song called "The Seventh Seal" (from the "Balance" album) in honor of his films. The song talks about The Seventh Seal (1957) and The Virgin Spring (1960).

Published "Tre dagböcker", including the diaries of him, his fifth wife Ingrid Bergman and their daughter Maria Von Rosen (2004).

Father-in-law of Henning Mankell.

Lived on the island of Fårö since the early 1960s, but moved to Munich, Germany for a while battling with the Swedish government over alleged tax evasion.

Inspired the word "Bergmanesque"

Fluently spoke Swedish, French and English.

10 of his films are listed in the 5th edition of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (edited by Steven Schneider). He is the third best represented director (behind Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawks) and has the greatest number of writing credits on that list of any screenwriter. On the list are the films Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), The Seventh Seal (1957), Wild Strawberries (1957), Through a Glass Darkly (1961), Winter Light (1963), Persona (1966), Hour of the Wolf (1968), Shame (1968), Cries & Whispers (1972) and Fanny and Alexander (1982).

Born to Erik Bergman, a Lutheran minister who later became the chaplain to the King of Sweden, and his wife Karen Åkerblom.

He and Ingrid Thulin made 10 movies together: Ett drömspel (1963), The Magician (1958), After the Rehearsal (1984), Winter Light (1963), Brink of Life (1958), The Rite (1969), Wild Strawberries (1957), The Silence (1963), Hour of the Wolf (1968) and Cries & Whispers (1972).

Often directed plays for the radio.

He was approached by Italian television in the seventies, about making a TV-movie based on the life of Jesus Christ. He wrote a synopsis and planned on filming the entire movie in the Swedish province Gotland (for example, the rocky beaches of Langhammars on the island of Fårö were to serve as Golgatha). Eventually, Franco Zeffirelli was commissioned to helm the project, which became Jesus of Nazareth (1977).

He and Liv Ullmann made 10 movies together: Face to Face (1976), Autumn Sonata (1978), The Passion of Anna (1969), Persona (1966), Saraband (2003), Scenes from a Marriage (1973), The Serpent's Egg (1977), Shame (1968), Hour of the Wolf (1968) and Cries & Whispers (1972).

Profiled in "Films and Dreams: Tarkovsky, Bergman, Sokurov, Kubrick and Wong Kar-Wei" by Thurston Botz-Borsnstein. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008.

Had a dispute with the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre about his production of the play "The Misanthrope". Instead, he directed it for The Royal Theatre of Copenhagen, Denmark, which was televised by Danish Televison as Misantropen (1974). Ironically, the head of Swedish Television's Dramatic Department, Lars Löfgren, later became the head of the Royal Dramatic Theatre.

On IMDb, he is the first director, labeled as 0000005.

Swedish Film Institute announced Bergman will donate his raw footage, photographs and manuscripts from his films and plays to a new foundation established to honor him. (5 June 2002)

Has now retired from directing, emptied his apartment in Stockholm and his room at the Dramatic Theater, and lives permanently at Fårö, Gotland (Sweden). (May 2004)

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985". Pages 103-115. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

His daughter Anna, born 1951, has appeared in a number of films and is married to a former London policeman.