This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/entertainment/6921960.stm

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 7 Version 8
Film director Bergman dies at 89 Film director Bergman dies at 89
(about 5 hours later)
Legendary film-maker Ingmar Bergman, one of the key figures in modern cinema, has died at the age of 89.Legendary film-maker Ingmar Bergman, one of the key figures in modern cinema, has died at the age of 89.
His 60-year career spanned intense classics like Cries & Whispers, The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries.His 60-year career spanned intense classics like Cries & Whispers, The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries.
He was personally nominated for nine Oscars between 1960 and 1984, while three of his productions won Oscars for best foreign film.He was personally nominated for nine Oscars between 1960 and 1984, while three of his productions won Oscars for best foreign film.
Bergman died at his home in Faro, Sweden. No details about the cause of death have been released. Bergman died at his home in Sweden. No details about the cause of death have been released.
Astrid Soderbergh Widding, president of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, said: "It's an unbelievable loss for Sweden, but even more so internationally." According to the TT news agency, Bergman died peacefully on Faro Island - or Sheep Island - in the Baltic Sea. The director had settled there after using it as a location for several films.
Nick James, editor of cinema magazine Sight & Sound, paid tribute to Bergman as "one of the great masters and one of the great humanists of cinema". Bergman won his first Oscar for best foreign film in 1961 class="" href="/1/hi/in_pictures/6922194.stm">In pictures: Bergman's life and career Astrid Soderbergh Widding, president of The Ingmar Bergman Foundation, said: "It's an unbelievable loss for Sweden, but even more so internationally."
Bergman won his first Oscar for best foreign film in 1961 class="" href="/1/hi/in_pictures/6922194.stm">In pictures: Bergman's life and career "There are very few people of that kind of stature today," he said. "He proved that cinema could be an artform." And British film director Ken Russell told the BBC: "He was probably the greatest film maker," describing him as a "very gloomy Swede".
"He could hardly bear to watch his own movies, apparently they made him so miserable," he said. "To have done 50 films with such a variety of misery is quite an achievement."
Bergman had five marriages and eight children, and his work often explored the tensions between married couples.Bergman had five marriages and eight children, and his work often explored the tensions between married couples.
He once said: "My pictures are always part of my thinking, and my emotions, tensions, dreams, desires. Sometimes they appear from the past, sometimes they grow up from my present life."He once said: "My pictures are always part of my thinking, and my emotions, tensions, dreams, desires. Sometimes they appear from the past, sometimes they grow up from my present life."
Bergman was born in 1918. His father was a Lutheran chaplain to the Swedish royal family and a strict disciplinarian.
As a child, Bergman used to help a local projectionist with film screenings and he went on to train as an actor and director at the University of Stockholm.
He eventually became director of the Helsingborg City Theatre in 1944, the same year that saw his first film script, Frenzy, brought to the big screen by Alf Sjoberg.
HAVE YOUR SAY His films are a towering artistic achievement Mark, Arizona, US Send us your comments Bergman made his own directorial debut with Crisis in 1946, the first of more than 40 films he directed in his career.
But it was not until the appearance of two tales of all-consuming love affairs - Summer Interlude in 1951 and Summer with Monika in 1953 - that his cinematic work was celebrated.
His reputation was confirmed by the international art-house hit The Seventh Seal in 1957.
The movie, currently back in cinemas to celebrate its 50th anniversary, is famous for the often-parodied scene in which one of the characters plays chess with death.
Bergman (right) worked closely with cinematographer Sven NykvistBergman said he was "terribly scared of death" at the time.
He won his first Oscar for best foreign film in 1961 with The Virgin Spring, based on a 13th century Swedish ballad about a family taking revenge for their daughter's murder.
The following year, he repeated the feat with Through A Glass Darkly, which explores the effect of schizophrenia on both the patient and their family.
He remained popular throughout the 1970s, when he made several films in Germany while under self-imposed tax exile from Sweden.
On his return, he made possibly his most popular film, and the one with which he announced his retirement, Fanny and Alexander.
Told from the perspective of two children who suffer when their mother remarries a clergyman, the film is more warm-hearted and sentimental than Bergman's austere earlier work.
The cinematic version, cut down from a five-hour long TV mini-series, earned a third best foreign film Oscar in 1982.
'Depressed
After retiring from film-making, Bergman continued to work in theatre and television, with his last work, Saraband, shown on Swedish public television in December 2003.
When it aired, almost a million Swedes - or one in nine - watched the family drama, which was based on the two main characters from his previous TV series, Scenes From a Marriage.
In a 70th birthday tribute in 1988, Woody Allen said Bergman was "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera".In a 70th birthday tribute in 1988, Woody Allen said Bergman was "probably the greatest film artist, all things considered, since the invention of the motion picture camera".
But Bergman confessed in 2004 that he could not bear to watch his own films because they made him depressed. HAVE YOUR SAY His films are a towering artistic achievement Mark, Arizona, US class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=7022&edition=1&ttl=20070730104442">Send us your comments But Bergman confessed in 2004 that he could not bear to watch his own films because they made him depressed.
"I become so jittery and ready to cry... and miserable," he said. "I think it's awful," he said in a rare interview on Swedish TV."I become so jittery and ready to cry... and miserable," he said. "I think it's awful," he said in a rare interview on Swedish TV.
According to the TT news agency, Bergman died peacefully on Faro Island - or Sheep Island - in the Baltic Sea. The director had settled on the island after filming several movies there. Nick James, editor of cinema magazine Sight & Sound, paid tribute to Bergman as "one of the great masters and one of the great humanists of cinema".
"There are very few people of that kind of stature today," he said. "He proved that cinema could be an artform."
And UK Culture Secretary James Purnell described Bergman as "undoubtedly one of the most important and influential film-makers of all time".
Bergman (right) worked closely with cinematographer Sven Nykvist"His contribution to world cinema across a 60-year career is unsurpassed," he said. "With his lifetime's work he has changed the face of film, but also proved that complex and challenging art can engage a wide audience."
Danish director Bille August said Bergman's death was "a real shock to me because he was the last big director left".
August, who described Bergman as an "incredible, unusually bright person", won the Palme D'Or at Cannes in 1988 and '92.
Bergman wrote the script for one of the winning films, The Best Intentions, basing it on his memories of his parents.
"The three big directors for me were Kurosawa, Fellini and Bergman," August said. "The two others had already passed and now Ingmar has also left us. He leaves a big vacuum behind."
'He gave hope'
These views were shared by Istvan Szabo, the Oscar-winning Hungarian director who worked with Bergman at the European Film Academy.
He told news agency MTI: "The Bergman films are to viewers like the novels of a great novelist, the poems of a great poet or the works of a great drama writer. "
Oscar-winning Polish director Andrzej Wajda described Bergman as creating "great art" and said that for film directors, "he gave hope, a belief, that if we wanted to say something about ourselves, the world would notice that".
The date of the funeral has not yet been set, but will be attended by a close group of friends and family, it was reported.The date of the funeral has not yet been set, but will be attended by a close group of friends and family, it was reported.