Anita Björk

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Anita Björk (25 April 1923 – 24 October 2012) was a Swedish actress.

She was born in Tällberg, Dalarna and attended the Royal Dramatic Training Academy from 1942 to 1945. She was a leading lady of Swedish theatre for many years and worked on the national stage Dramaten from 1945 onwards and played more than 100 roles over the years (which makes her one of the greatest actors of Dramaten).

Anita Björk played leading roles in film in a number of genres, including thrillers and crime mystery dramas such as Det kom en gäst (1947), Moln över Hellesta (1956), Damen i svart (1958), Mannekäng i rött (1958) and Tärningen är kastad (1960). Her most famous role was probably her title role in Alf Sjöberg's film adaption of Strindberg's Miss Julie (1951) that was awarded the grand prize at Cannes Film Festival.

In the book-length interview Hitchcock/Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, 1967), Hitchcock said he had hired Björk as the female lead for I Confess in 1952 after seeing her in Miss Julie. However, when Björk arrived in Hollywood with her lover Stig Dagerman and their baby, Jack L. Warner, the head of Warner Brothers insisted that Hitchcock should find another actress.

She was married to Olof Bergström (1945–1951) and to Stig Dagerman (from 1953). After Dagerman's death in 1954, she had a relationship with author Graham Greene.

In 2009 she performed in A. R. Gurney's play Kärleksbrev (Love Letters) at Dramaten opposite Jan-Olof Strandberg (Lilla scenen; March–April, 2009).

Björk died on 24 October 2012 at the age of 89.


Anita Björk - Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Bj%C3%B6rk


Anita Björk - IMDb : http://imdb.com/name/nm0084909/

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Anita Björk is able to use simple means to give depth and character to a role. She has a way of expressing any emotion just by raising an eyebrow or twitching her lips. This was something she used to a large extent in her best movie, Alf Sjöberg's Mademoiselle Julie (1951) where she played the young lady at a country manor, planning to elope with Jean the butler.

She was bitten by the acting bug in her teens and went to Stockholm. She started her acting studies at the Royal Dramatic Theater in 1942 and quickly got major roles. Her breakthrough came 1948 in Jean Genet's 'The Maids', followed by such roles as Agnes in 'Henrik Ibsen's 'Brand', Julie in William Shakespeare's 'Romeo & Juliet', Eliza in George Bernard Shaw's 'Pygmalion' and Tintomara in 'Carl Jonas Love Almqvist''s 'Drottningens juvelsmycke'.

She met and fell in love with the writer Stig Dagerman and in 1951 she gave birth to a daughter. The three of them went to Hollywood for Anita to negotiate a role in Alfred Hitchcock's La loi du silence (1953). But when word came out that Anita wasn't married to Stig, Hollywood lost interest. His divorce from his ex-wife wasn't final until 1953 and apparently it wasn't acceptable to Hollywood for a contract player to live with someone married to somebody else.

In West Germany she played against Gregory Peck in Les gens de la nuit (1954) but when the movie failed at the box office, so did her career abroad. Also, her husband killed himself and Anita decided to stick to the Royal Dramatic Theater where she has appeared in more than 80 roles through the years. In movies, she has appeared mainly in supporting roles.

Of her movies, the most interesting are Mademoiselle Julie (1951), På dessa skuldror (1948) and Mannekäng i rött (1958).

Mattias Thuresson

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