Victor David Sjöström (Swedish: [ˈvɪ̌kË tÉ"r ËˆÉ§Ã¸Ì‚Ë strÅ"m]
(listen); 20 September 1879 â€" 3 January 1960), sometimes known in
the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film
director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden,
before moving to Hollywood in 1924. Sjöström worked primarily in the
silent era; his best known films include The Phantom Carriage (1921),
He Who Gets Slapped (1924), and The Wind (1928). Sjöström was
Sweden's most prominent director in the "Golden Age of Silent Film" in
Europe. Later in life, he played the leading role in Ingmar Bergman's
Wild Strawberries (1957).Born in Årjäng/Silbodal, in the Värmland
region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf
Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died
when he was seven years old in 1886. Sjöström returned to Sweden
where he lived with relatives in Stockholm, beginning his acting
career at 17 as a member of a touring theater company.Drawn from the
stage to the fledgling motion picture industry, he made his first film
in 1912 under the direction of Mauritz Stiller. Between then and 1923,
he directed another forty-one films in Sweden, some of which are now
lost. Those surviving include The Sons of Ingmar (1919), Karin,
Daughter of Ingmar (1920) and The Phantom Carriage (1921), all based
on stories by the Nobel Prizeâ€"winning novelist Selma Lagerlöf. Many
of his films from the period are marked by subtle character portrayal,
fine storytelling and evocative settings in which the Swedish
landscape often plays a key psychological role. The naturalistic
quality of his films was enhanced by his (then revolutionary)
preference for on-location filming, especially in rural and village
settings. He is also known as a pioneer of continuity editing in
narrative filmmaking.In 1923, Sjöström accepted an offer from Louis
B. Mayer to work in the United States. In Sweden, he had acted in his
own films as well as in those for others, but in Hollywood he devoted
himself solely to directing. Using an anglicised name, Victor
Seastrom, he made the drama film Name the Man (1924) based on the Hall
Caine novel, The Master of Man. He directed stars of the day such as
Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lillian Gish, Lon Chaney, and Norma Shearer
in another eight films in America before his first talkie in 1930.
(listen); 20 September 1879 â€" 3 January 1960), sometimes known in
the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film
director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden,
before moving to Hollywood in 1924. Sjöström worked primarily in the
silent era; his best known films include The Phantom Carriage (1921),
He Who Gets Slapped (1924), and The Wind (1928). Sjöström was
Sweden's most prominent director in the "Golden Age of Silent Film" in
Europe. Later in life, he played the leading role in Ingmar Bergman's
Wild Strawberries (1957).Born in Årjäng/Silbodal, in the Värmland
region of Sweden, he was only a year old when his father, Olof Adolf
Sjöström, moved the family to Brooklyn, New York. His mother died
when he was seven years old in 1886. Sjöström returned to Sweden
where he lived with relatives in Stockholm, beginning his acting
career at 17 as a member of a touring theater company.Drawn from the
stage to the fledgling motion picture industry, he made his first film
in 1912 under the direction of Mauritz Stiller. Between then and 1923,
he directed another forty-one films in Sweden, some of which are now
lost. Those surviving include The Sons of Ingmar (1919), Karin,
Daughter of Ingmar (1920) and The Phantom Carriage (1921), all based
on stories by the Nobel Prizeâ€"winning novelist Selma Lagerlöf. Many
of his films from the period are marked by subtle character portrayal,
fine storytelling and evocative settings in which the Swedish
landscape often plays a key psychological role. The naturalistic
quality of his films was enhanced by his (then revolutionary)
preference for on-location filming, especially in rural and village
settings. He is also known as a pioneer of continuity editing in
narrative filmmaking.In 1923, Sjöström accepted an offer from Louis
B. Mayer to work in the United States. In Sweden, he had acted in his
own films as well as in those for others, but in Hollywood he devoted
himself solely to directing. Using an anglicised name, Victor
Seastrom, he made the drama film Name the Man (1924) based on the Hall
Caine novel, The Master of Man. He directed stars of the day such as
Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lillian Gish, Lon Chaney, and Norma Shearer
in another eight films in America before his first talkie in 1930.
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