Anita Björk

Anita Barbro Kristina Björk was born on April 25, 1923 in Tällberg, Dalarna into a family rich in artistic roots. At the age of thirteen she was admitted to the Opera ballet school but had to stop immediately because she was too old, a fact has bothered her ever since. Later, she became a student at Gösta Terserus theatre school and afterwards was accepted to the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in 1942. The same year she made her debut in the show Nya Taggen at the Nya Teater.

At theatre school she studied alongside Mai Zetterling, an actress who later became a headstrong film director. In her memoirs All Those Tomorrows (1985) Zetterling described Anita Björk as a confident actress with a deep and masterly voice just like some of her characters.

In 1945 she starred in Holger Drachmann's Det Var en Gång at the Royal Dramatic Theatre, which she has remained faithful to ever since. Two years later she had a key role in Woman Without a Face directed by Gustaf Molander based on Ingmar Bergman's script. The same year she played Adèle in Strindberg's Playing with Fire that Bergman produced for Radio Theatre.

Björk made her breakthrough as a stage actress in Jungfruleken (1948) opposite Maj-Britt Nilsson. According to Herbert Grevenius, the two provided "an unusual performance experience - a dance of hate, innocence and ecstatic absorption".

Several prominent roles followed such as Rakel in Bergman's Waiting Women (1952) and Henrika in Amorina (1951). She played the title role in Alf Sjöberg's Miss Julie (1951) that won the top prize at Cannes. This became her international breakthrough and led to offers from Hollywood including a part in Alfred Hitchcock's, I Confess.

She turned down the part and ended her entire Hollywood career mainly because of her relationship with Stig Dagerman in Sweden. Afterwards she had a few relatively popular film roles in Europe. She has described her continuing career as difficult especially since she had reached the age where women's roles are rare.

Björk made memorable performances in Arne Mattsson's Hillman films and as the wife of a director in Bo Widerberg's Ådalen 31 (1969).

Photo: Bengt Wanselius
© Bengt Wanselius

She made a powerful comeback to Bergman's world in 1989 as Madame de Montreuil in Madame de Sade at the Royal Dramatic Theatre stage. But more was in store. In 1991 she played Queen Victoria in Bille August's Good Intentions based on Bergman's autobiographical script.

Photo: Bengt Wanselius
© Bengt Wanselius

Characters such as the choir leader Alfa in The Bacchae (1996) and Uncle Carl's grandmother in the TV movie In the Presence of a Clown  (1997) were followed by the role of Selma Lagerlöf in PO Enquist's The Image Makers (1998), successfully directed by Ingmar Bergman. Anita Björk toured with the show on Lagerlöf during the 80s and was hailed for her acting together with Elin Klinga as Tora Teje. The play successfully toured on several noteworthy stages abroad. Ingmar Bergman directed a TV production of the play two years later. Several critics were of the opinion that in this version, the interplay between Elin Klinga and Anita Björk had been further refined.

Sources 

Myggans nöjeslexikon
Svensk Filmdatabas

Cooperation with Ingmar Bergman