Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson (28 January 1927 – 31 December 2010)[1] was a Swedish actor. He is best known for his role in the 1966 film Hunger, which earned him a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor.

Per Oscarsson
Oscarsson in 1948
Born
Per Oscar Heinrich Oscarsson

(1927-01-28)28 January 1927
Stockholm, Sweden
Died31 December 2010(2010-12-31) (aged 83)
Skara, Sweden
OccupationActor
Years active1944–2009
Spouses
(m. 1954; div. 1960)
Bärbel Krämer
(m. 1962; div. 1973)
Kia Östling
(m. 1989; died 2010)
Children6

Early life

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Oscarsson was born, along with his twin brother Björn, on 28 January 1927 on Kungsholmen, Stockholm, to parents Einar Oscarsson, an engineer, and Therèse, née Küppers. The twins had two elder siblings. Their mother, who was German, died of cancer in 1933.[2]

Career

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Oscarsson was best known for his role as Pontus, a starving writer, in the social realism drama Hunger, based on the Knut Hamsun novel by the same name, a role for which he won the 1966 Bodil, the Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role[3] and the 1966 Cannes Film Festival best actor awards. His most recent film role was as Holger Palmgren, the character Lisbeth Salander's publicly appointed guardian, in the 2009 movies The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, based on Stieg Larsson's famous novels.[4]

Death

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A fire started in the house of Per Oscarsson and his wife Kia Östling on the night of 30–31 December 2010. On 31 December, a relative found the house burned to the ground with only the foundations and chimney remaining.[5] Oscarsson had not been heard from since the fire. A body was discovered in the ruins of the house on 2 January 2011, and was presumed by police to be either the body of Oscarsson or that of his wife.[6] A second body was discovered on 3 January, which increased the possibility that both Oscarsson and his wife had perished in the fire.[7] On 5 January, the deaths of Oscarsson and his wife were confirmed through dental records by Swedish police.[8][9] Oscarsson died at age 83.

Selected filmography

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References

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  1. ^ Roxborough, Scott (5 January 2011). "Swedish Police Identify Per Oscarsson's Remains". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  2. ^ Per Oscarsson - Bakom rubrikerna och replikerna ("Per Oscarsson - Behind headlines and lines") TV-interview with Agneta Bolme Börjefors from 1998.
  3. ^ "Svält (1966)". Swedish Film Institute. 1 March 2014.
  4. ^ "Cinema giant may have burned to death". The Age. 3 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Per Oscarsson befaras död i brand". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). 1 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  6. ^ "Swedish actor Per Oscarsson feared dead in house fire". BBC News Online. 2 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  7. ^ Roxborough, Scott (3 January 2011). "Second body found at Swedish film actor's house". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  8. ^ Edblom, Kristina; Bergfeldt, Carina (5 January 2011). "Kropparna är identifierade". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 7 January 2011.
  9. ^ "Swedish actor confirmed dead in house fire". The Local. 5 January 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2011.
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