Åke Fridell gives Ingmar Bergman's coarse, earthy men a capacity for hurt that makes the comedy matter. We value him for the humanity he finds in supporting parts, though the casting often returns him to familiar types.
Fi1m perspective
Åke Fridell's tall, angular figure and boisterous laugh make him hard to overlook, even in a small part. He often plays a coarse man whose feelings prove easier to hurt than his behaviour suggests. Working repeatedly with Ingmar Bergman, he makes these men worth attending to without asking us to approve of them. We rate him for that, though the familiar rustic type can sometimes be easier to recognise than the individual.
In Summer with Monika (1953), he is Ludwig Eriksson, Monika's working-class father, part of the adult world surrounding the young lovers. We felt for those young people, because Harriet Andersson makes their hunger for freedom easy to believe. Our enthusiasm for the film rests chiefly on her performance and the summer light caught by cinematographer Gunnar Fischer; the writing can be needlessly harsh. His casting belongs to a pattern: Bergman repeatedly gave him working-class or rustic figures. His part also reminds us that youthful rebellion needs an adult world to push against.
His first film role for Bergman was Reverend Berg in It Rains on Our Love (1946), and the collaboration extended through the director's theatre ensembles. The mid-1950s give him a succession of earthy characters, with enough differences to keep the casting useful. Frid, the groom in Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), supplies a contrast to the upper-class intrigue. In The Seventh Seal (1957), the blacksmith Plog's anger and vulnerability make the low comedy more than an agreeable interruption.
The casting also allows for less sympathetic men, including the weak, opportunistic Tubal, assistant to the conjuror in The Magician (1958). Later work included Aron på Nybacken in Jan Troell's The Emigrants (1971), as well as television and voice roles. For Fridell himself, start with The Seventh Seal, and give the blacksmith as much attention as the grander figures.
Biography
Åke Fridell was a Swedish actor. Born in Gävle, he trained at Axel Witzansky’s theatre school in Stockholm from 1942 to 1944 and made his stage debut around that time. He worked at theatres including Malmö Stadsteater and appeared in more than ninety films and numerous stage productions between 1944 and 1975.
Fridell was frequently cast by Ingmar Bergman in expressive supporting roles, often portraying coarse or eccentric characters from the lower classes. His best-known film parts include the blacksmith Plog in The Seventh Seal (1957), Tubal in The Magician (1958), the groom Frid in Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) and the wife’s lover in Wild Strawberries (1957). He also appeared in Summer with Monika (1953), Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), It Rains on Our Love (1946) and The Emigrants (1971).
In 1959 he received the Thalia statuette. Fridell died in Stockholm in 1985.
