David Harald Vilgot Sjöman was born on December 2, 1924 in Stockholm. He was an early friend of Ingmar Bergman and as a teenager was an amateur actor in his production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Norra Latin in 1942. He was already interested in theatre as a child and often visited several of Stockholm's outdoor theatres.
Sjöman made his literary debut with Lektorn (1948) produced as a film with the title Trots (1952) and directed by Olof Molander starring Harriet Andersson.
He made his film directorial debut with Älskarinnan (1962) and unleashed a big morality debate with his filmatization of Lars Görlings novel 491 (1964). In the late 60s he made a major international breakthrough with his films I am Curious, Yellow (1967) and I Am Curious, Blue (1968, both starring Börje Ahlstedt and Lena Nyman in the lead roles.
Vilgot Sjöman directed fifteen films and wrote many plays including the well-polished L 136: Diary with Ingmar Bergman (1963) on the production of Winter Light, a chief source of inspiration for Alexander Ahndoril's controversial novel The Director.
In 2003 Sjöman was given the Ingmar Bergman Prize for his fight against commercial breaks during feature film broadcasts on television.
Vilgot Sjöman died on April 9, 2006.
Cooperation with Ingmar Bergman
Credits
| Year |
Work |
Title |
Media |
| 1963 |
Winter Light |
Assistant Director |
Film |
