Bengt Ekerot : Early life, Career, Death, Partial filmography Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bengt Ekerot

Swedish actor

Antoinette Gram

(m. 1946)

Margareta Hallin

(m. 1959⁠–⁠1968)

Nils Bengt Folke Ekerot (8 February 1920 – 26 November 1971) was a Swedish actor and stage director best known for portraying Death in The Seventh Seal (1957) directed by Ingmar Bergman. In 1956, he directed the world premiere of Long Day's Journey into Night, considered the magnum opus of American playwright Eugene O'Neill.

Early life

Ekerot was born in Stockholm.

Career

He had several roles in Swedish films, but in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957) he portrayed Death as a white-faced man in a black cloak. The decision to perform the role in this way was a joint decision between the actor and director. Bergman wrote in his autobiography Images: My Life in Film that the two men "agreed that Death should wear a clown mask, a white clown’s mask. A fusion of a clown mask and a skull."^[1]

He also appeared in Bergman's 1958 film, The Magician (also released as Ansiktet (lit. Swedish: "The Face") as Johan Spegel, an ailing vaudevillian.

Death

A man with a self-destructive personality, health issues from smoking and excessive drinking affected Ekerot's later career resulting in him losing potential roles. He died from lung cancer in 1971.^[1]

Partial filmography

They Staked Their Lives (1940) - Freedom Fighter
Hanna in Society (1940) - Fred Hummerberg
The Talk of the Town (1941) - Sven Törring
Snapphanar (1941) - Lille-Jonas
Lågor i dunklet (1942) - Åke Kronström, Student (uncredited)
We House Slaves (1942) - Linus Tallhagen
Nothing Is Forgotten (1942) - Student at art school (uncredited)
Night in Port (1943) - John
När ungdomen vaknar (1943) - Lennart
Sonja (1943) - Bengt
Gentleman with a Briefcase (1943) - Stig
Tre söner gick till flyget (1945) - Erik
The Rose of Tistelön (1945) - Anton, hennes bror
Fram för lilla Märta eller På livets ödesvägar (1945) - Radio Speaker (voice, uncredited)
Crime and Punishment (1945) - Studenten
13 stolar (1945) - Clerk (uncredited)
Brita in the Merchant's House (1946) - 'Paniken'
Interlude (1946) - Tjuven
Dynamite (1947) - Allan Axelson
Marianne (1953) - Companion (uncredited)
Hamlet (1955, TV Movie) - Hamlet, prins av Danmark
Stage Entrance (1956) - Johan Eriksson
The Seventh Seal (1957) - Death
The Jazz Boy (1958) - Erik Jonsson
The Magician (1958) - Johan Spegel
On a Bench in a Park (1960) - Sam Persson
Myten (1966) - Policeman / Social Worker / Guard / Doctor
Here Is Your Life (1966) - Byberg
Life's Just Great (1967) - The Neighbour
Ola & Julia (1967) - Max
Who Saw Him Die? (1968) - Eriksson
Korridoren (1968) - Birger Olsson (final film role)