Liv Ullmann

Early life

Liv Johanne Ullmann was born in Tokyo on 16 December 1938, the daughter of Norwegian parents Janna Erbe (née Lund; 1910–1996) and Erik Viggo Ullmann (1907–1945). Her father was an aircraft engineer who was working in Tokyo at the time. Her grandfather helped Jews escape from the Norwegian town where he lived during World War II, and was thus sent to the Dachau concentration camp, where he died. When Ullmann was two years old, she moved with her parents to Canada and settled in Toronto, where her father worked at the Norwegian Air Force base on Toronto Island during World War II. The family then moved to the U.S. and settled in New York City, where her father died four years later after a lengthy hospitalisation from head injuries due to being struck by an aeroplane propeller, and his death affected her greatly. Her mother worked as a bookseller while raising Ullmann and her sister alone. They eventually returned to Norway and lived in Trondheim.

Career

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 Helmer 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 and 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."

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. 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. 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.

During 1984, she was chairperson of the jury at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival, 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. She was amused by the offer, and said that it was one of the few programs she regularly watched, but she turned it down. Later that year, Steven Soderbergh wrote a role in the movie Ocean's 12 especially for her, but she also turned that down.

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 writer Ketil Bjørnstad and her from pursuing the project. Australian actress Cate Blanchett and British actress Kate Winslet had been intended to have been cast 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, DC, 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.

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. In 2013, Ullmann directed a film adaptation of Miss Julie. The film, released in September 2014, stars Jessica Chastain, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton. It was widely praised by the Norwegian press.

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

In March 2022, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Ullmann would receive the Academy Honorary Award. 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".

Honours and causes

Ullmann is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, 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.

Ullmann received an honorary degree, a doctorate of philosophy, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in 2006.

Personal life

Ullmann was married to Norwegian psychiatrist Hans Jakob Stang from 1960 until they divorced in 1965. She was with Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman from 1965 to 1970, becoming his muse and frequent collaborator. They had a daughter, writer Linn Ullmann (born 1966), whose son Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel (born 1990) became a filmmaker.

In 1985, Ullman married American real estate developer Donald Saunders from Boston, and they divorced in 1995 but remained in a relationship.

Performances and works

Film

As actress

As director

Television

Theatre

Awards and recognition

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
• 2012: International Indian Film Academy Awards for Outstanding Contribution to International Cinema

References

References

1. (2023-08-13). "Liv ULLMANN - Festival de Cannes".
2. Holden, Stephen. (12 December 2013). "A Filmmaker's Hold on His Muse". [[The New York Times]].
3. Solway, Diane. (October 2009). "Liv the Life".
4. Hattenstone, Simon. (2001-02-03). "A Lifelong Liaison". The Guardian.
5. "Liv Ullmann".
6. "TROLOSA".
7. "BAFTA Awards Search {{!}} BAFTA Awards".
8. "Academy Awards Search {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences".
9. Beckett, Lois. (March 26, 2022). "'This is going to be cherished': Samuel L Jackson and Elaine May receive honorary Oscars". The Guardian.
10. "ABC News 06/24/21 Honorary Academy Award Recipients Announced".
11. Larsen, Svend Erik Løken. (30 August 2017). "Liv Ullmann".
12. "Family tree of Liv ULLMANN".
13. Hattenstone, Simon. (3 February 2001). "A Lifelong Liaison". [[The Guardian]].
14. Jones, Donald. (10 May 1986). "Unravelling Little Norway's Big Secrets". [[Toronto Star]].
15. Ouzounian, Richard. (9 September 2014). "TIFF: Liv Ullmann spent 'worst and best times of my life' in Toronto". [[Toronto Star]].
16. (12 February 2000). "The Bergman connection". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
17. Marcus, J. S.. (17 September 2010). "Liv Ullmann's Return to the Stage". The Wall Street Journal.
18. Barnes, Clive. (15 April 1977). "Theater: Liv Ullman's 'Anna Christie'". The New York Times.
19. "Dressed to Kill (1980)".
20. (18 September 2013). "NRK TV – Se Viggo på lørdag".
21. "Berlinale: 1984 Juries". [[Berlin International Film Festival]].
22. (21 November 2003). "Sex og singelliv for Liv Ullmann".
23. (20 November 2003). "Sex og singel-Liv".
24. (15 September 2012). "Eventyrlig Liv".
25. "30th Moscow International Film Festival (2008)". MIFF.
26. "Honoured to Share the Dais with Shabana Azmi, Liv Ullmann: Hassan". [[Mid-Day]].
27. Boehm, Mike. (1 February 2013). "Jessica Chastain to star in Liv Ullmann's film of 'Miss Julie'". Los Angeles Times.
28. Akolkar, Dheeraj. (June 26, 2020). "''Wars Don't End''". [[Vimeo]].
29. Willis, Courtney. (March 26, 2022). "Samuel L. Jackson, Danny Glover honored at Governors Awards". The Grio.
30. Bahr, Lindsay. (24 March 2022). "Liv Ullmann has given out many Oscars. Now she gets her own.". Associated Press.
31. (7 June 2022). "John Lithgow honors Liv Ullmann at the 2022 Governors Awards".
32. "Unicef People". [[UNICEF]].
33. (October 2012}}{{cite news). "People: Liv Ullmann, Sharon Stone, Seal". [[International Herald Tribune]].
34. "Honorary Doctors". [[Norwegian University of Science and Technology]].
35. (2013-12-12). "Liv Ullmann On Love, Passion, Isolation and Friendship in Doc 'Liv & Ingmar'".
36. "An Independent Woman".
37. (2001-02-11). "A Tale as Complex as the Lives Behind It".
38. (2 March 2014). "Skammen (1968)". Swedish Film Institute.
39. "Accademia del Cinema Italiano - Premi David di Donatello".
40. "Festival de Cannes: Faithless". [[Cannes Film Festival]].
41. "''FIAF Award''".