Bibi Andersson, actress

Bibi Andersson, who has died at 83, was a Swedish actress who starred in classic films by Ingmar Bergman, including The Seventh Seal and Persona.
Bibi Andersson with actor George Peppard in 1978Bibi Andersson with actor George Peppard in 1978
Bibi Andersson with actor George Peppard in 1978

The only person to have been named best actress four times in the annual awards of the Swedish Film Institute, she also shared the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Bergman’s Brink Of Life.

Five years later, she was named best actress at the Berlin Film Festival for her performance in Vilgot Sjoman’s The Mistress.

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Born in Stockholm on November 11 1935, as Berit Elisabet Andersson, she appeared in more than 90 films, 13 of them directed by Bergman.

They first met in 1951 when Bergman directed a series of soap commercials featuring her.

As her career expanded into major productions overseas in the 1970s, she appeared in movies by directors such as John Huston and Robert Altman and starred alongside Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier and Steve McQueen.

She then turned to directing plays in Stockholm before suffering a stroke in 2009 and disappearing from the limelight.

She is survived by her daughter, Jenny, and her third husband, Gabriel Mora Baeza.