Jan Wilhelm Malmsjö (born 29 May 1932) is a Swedish stage and film

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

, musical star and singer. He is married to

Marie Göranzon Britt-Marie Elisabeth Göranzon Malmsjö (born 27 October 1942) is a Swedish actress. Marie Göranzon has been part of Sweden's Royal Dramatic Theatre-ensemble since 1967. She trained at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy from 1964 to 1967. ...

and father to

Jonas Malmsjö Carl Jonas Love Malmsjö (born September 2, 1971) is a Swedish actor who has worked in theatre, TV and radio; he is the son of Swedish actor Jan Malmsjö and the Swedish actress Marie Göranzon. Apart from his work in his native Sweden, which ha ...

Biography

Malmsjö was born in

Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish province of Scania, across the Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipality, Scania County. The Öre ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. He trained at the prestigious

Royal Dramatic Training Academy The Royal Dramatic Training Academy ( sv, Kungliga Dramatiska Teaterns Elevskola, also known as ''Dramatens elevskola''), was the acting school of Sweden's national stage, the Royal Dramatic Theatre, and for many years (1787–1964) seen as the ...

from 1950 to 1953 and one of his first parts on the national stage was as Paris in Shakespeare's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'' (1953). He appeared in two episodes of the World War II drama ''

Combat! ''Combat!'' is an American television drama series that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American so ...

'' in 1966, first on the fourth season episode "Sudden Terror" as Bruener and secondly on the fifth season episode "The Chapel at Able Five" as Captain Krauss. In the same year he played Ilya W. Vorchek in the episode "Agent of the East" of the World War II espionage series ''

Blue Light Blue Light or Blue light may refer to: Science and technology * Portion of the visible spectrum related to the blue color ** Blue laser ** Blue LED * Cherenkov radiation, the physical phenomenon responsible for the characteristic blue glow in nuc ...

''. Malmsjö has a great range as an actor from the title role in Shakespeare's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' (

Dramaten The Royal Dramatic Theatre ( sv, Kungliga Dramatiska Teatern, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages. The the ...

, 1974) and Reverent Manders in

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's ''

Ghosts A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

'' to Henry Higgins in ''

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

'' and leading roles in other musicals such as ''La Cage aux Folles'' and ''Victor/Victoria''. He has also cut several music records in his native Sweden. In the musical world, his Swedish language recording of "Willkommen"; ''Välkomna till Cabaret'' (from

Malmö City Theatre Malmö City Theatre ( sv, Malmö stadsteater) in Malmö, Sweden, is the main theatre of Malmö. History The first theatre in Malmö, Malmö Teater, was built in 1808 but became out of use in 1938. The Malmö City Theatre was built by the archit ...

's successful production of ''

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

'' 1970; where Malmsjö played the part of Emcee) is considered a masterpiece and treasure on CD. He has filmed sporadically: one of his most famous film parts is as the ''Bishop Edvard Vergérus'' in

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film director, screenwriter, producer and playwright. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time, his films are known as "profoun ...

's '' Fanny and Alexander'' (1982). One of his more recent stage parts was as The Captain in

Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

's ''

The Dance of Death The ''Danse Macabre'' (; ) (from the French language), also called the Dance of Death, is an artistic genre of allegory of the Late Middle Ages on the universality of death. The ''Danse Macabre'' consists of the dead, or a personification ...

'' in the 1993

-production, directed by

Lars Norén Lars Göran Ingemar Norén (9 April 1944 – 26 January 2021) was a Swedish playwright, novelist and poet. His plays are realistic and often revolve around family and personal relations, either among people who are impoverished and rooted at th ...

(adapted for TV in 1996). He also voiced Lumiere in the Swedish dub of

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' (''The Young American and Marine ...

''. In December 2007, Malmsjö participated in the Swedish reality show ''

Stjärnorna på slottet ''Stjärnorna på slottet'' (English: ''Stars at the Castle'') is a Swedish show featuring five film or music stars which is usually broadcast during the Christmas and New Year Eve weekend and a bit into January each year. The show was broadcast ...

'' (''Stars at the Castle''), at

Trolleholm Castle Trolleholm Castle ( sv, Trolleholms slott) is a castle in Svalöv Municipality, Scania, in southern Sweden. The estate comprises 110 houses and a total of 12300 acres (5000 Hectare). Originally named Kattisnabbe and later Eriksholm, it has been kn ...

, along with

Peter Stormare Rolf Peter Ingvar Storm (born August 27, 1953), better known as Peter Stormare (), is a Swedish actor who holds both Swedish and American citizenship. He played Gaear Grimsrud in the film '' Fargo'' (1996) and John Abruzzi in the television ser ...

Arja Saijonmaa Arja Enni Helena Saijonmaa (born 1 December 1944 in Mikkeli) is a Finnish singer, political activist and occasional actress. Life and career She studied at the Sibelius Academy and earned a Bachelor of Arts at the Helsinki University. She mad ...

Britt Ekland Britt Ekland (; born Britt-Marie Eklund; 6 October 1942) is a Swedish actress, model and singer. She appeared in numerous films in her heyday throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including roles in '' The Double Man'' (1967), '' The Night They Raided ...

and

Magnus Härenstam Johan Herbert Magnus Härenstam (19 June 1941 – 13 June 2015) was a Swedish television host, actor and comedian. Härenstam hosted the Swedish version of the game-show ''Jeopardy!'' for 14 years before being replaced by Adam Alsing. Hären ...

. He participated in

Melodifestivalen 2019 Melodifestivalen 2019 was the 59th edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen and was held between 2 February 2019 and 9 March 2019. Presenters were Sarah Dawn Finer, Kodjo Akolor, Marika Carlsson and Eric Saade. Edward af Sillé ...

with the song "Leva Livet". Malmsjö was still acting as recently as 2017 at the age of 85, when he was rehearsing the title role of '' Krapp's Last Tape'' by

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

, at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre. In early 2019, he was one of the contestants (in a preparatory heat) for Sweden's selection for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

; last time he appeared in the show had been fifty years before.

Personal life

Malmsjö is married to actress and colleague of the Royal Dramatic Theatre,

. His son,

, is also an actor (and acted opposite his father in

's staging of ''

The Ghost Sonata ''The Ghost Sonata'' ( sv, Spöksonaten, links=no) is a play in three acts by the Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Written in 1907, it was first produced at Strindberg's Intimate Theatre in Stockholm on 21 January 1908. Since then, it has bee ...

'' by

August Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

, in 2000).

Awards

In 1972, Malmsjö was awarded ''

Svenska Dagbladet ''Svenska Dagbladet'' (, "The Swedish Daily News"), abbreviated SvD, is a daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. History and profile The first issue of ''Svenska Dagbladet'' appeared on 18 December 1884. During the beginning of the ...

'''s Thalia Prize. He was awarded the

Litteris et Artibus Litteris et Artibus is a Swedish royal medal established in 1853 by Charles XV of Sweden, who was then crown prince. It is awarded to people who have made important contributions to culture, especially music, dramatic art and literature. The ob ...

and

Illis quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') ( English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King ...

in 1986 and the

Eugene O'Neill Award The Eugene O'Neill Award (Swedish: ''O'Neill-stipendiet'') is one of Sweden's finest awards for stage actors. It is a scholarship for actors at the Swedish theater. It has been awarded annually by the Royal Dramatic Theatre since 1956. Histo ...

in 1988. He received the Guldmasken in 1997, 1999, 2004, and 2009.

Selected filmography

* 1959 – ' (a.k.a. The Imaginary Invalid) (TV theatre) * 1959 – '' Pojken Winslow'' (a.k.a.

The Winslow Boy ''The Winslow Boy'' is an English play from 1946 by Terence Rattigan based on an incident involving George Archer-Shee in the Edwardian era. The incident took place at the Royal Naval College, Osborne. Background Set against the strict c ...

) (TV theatre) * 1960 – '' The Die Is Cast'' * 1960 – '' Mälarpirater'' (aka, ''Pirates on the Malonen'') * 1962 – ''

The Lady in White ''The Lady in White'' (Italian: ''La dama bianca'') is a 1938 Italian " white-telephones" comedy film directed by Mario Mattoli and starring Elsa Merlini, Nino Besozzi and Enrico Viarisio.Clarke & Doel p.37 The film's sets were designed by the ...

'' * 1963 – ''

Hide and Seek Hide-and-seek (sometimes known as hide-and-go-seek) is a popular children's game in which at least two players (usually at least three) conceal themselves in a set environment, to be found by one or more seekers. The game is played by one chose ...

'' * 1964 – '' Älskande par'' (aka, ''Loving Couples'') * 1966 – '' Torn Curtain'' (in final scene of this Hitchcock movie) – Swedish Photographer (uncredited) * 1973 – ''

Scenes from a Marriage ''Scenes from a Marriage'' ( sv, Scener ur ett äktenskap) is a 1973 Swedish television miniseries written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Over the course of six hour-long episodes, it explores the disintegration of the marriage between Mariann ...

'' * 1975 – '' ''Släpp fångarne loss, det är vår!'' * 1980 – ''

Marmalade Revolution ''Marmalade Revolution'' ( sv, Marmeladupproret) is a 1980 Swedish drama film directed by and starring Erland Josephson. It was entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival. Cast * Erland Josephson - Karl Henrik Eller * Bibi Anders ...

'' * 1982 – '' Fanny and Alexander'' * 1986 – ''

Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...

'' (miniseries) * 1986 – ' (mini series) * 1987 – '' Jim & Piraterna Blom (a.k.a. ''Jim and the Pirates'') * 1993 – '' Drömkåken'' (a.k.a. The Dream House) * 1996 – '' Dödsdansen'' (TV-theatre, SVT) * 1997 – ''

Jag är din krigare ''Jag är din krigare'' ("I Am Your Warrior") (also known as ''Bjørnens søn'' ("Son of the Bear") and ''Nature's Warrior'') is a 1997 Swedish/Danish action film directed by Stefan Jarl. The movie mainly takes place in the nature around Lidkö ...

'' * 1998 – '' Den tatuerade änkan'' (TV) * 2006 – ' – Walter * 2006 – '' Beck – Den japanska shungamålningen'' – Ernst Levendahl * 2007 – ' – Eckelstein * 2013 – ' (2013) – Axel Frankel

Singles

Photographs

Jan Malmsjö as Hummel in Strindberg's "Ghost Sonata", directed by Ingmar Bergman (2000; left Gunnel Lindblom as The Mummy)

Jan Malmsjö in the 1970s

Jan Malmsjö – 2001 portrait

Jan Malmsjö as Manders in "Ghosts" by Henrik Ibsen (left: Pernilla August as Mrs. Alving)

Photo from Dramaten.se

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Malmsjo, Jan 1932 births Eugene O'Neill Award winners Litteris et Artibus recipients Living people Melodifestivalen contestants People from Lund Swedish male film actors Swedish male musical theatre actors Swedish male singers Swedish male television actors Recipients of the Illis quorum