Swedish actress Agneta Ekmanner dies, Digi Mart USA News (Sweden): Actress Agneta Ekmanner has died, her family told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN). She was active at Stockholm City Theatre and the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten), and appeared in about 40 films and television series.
Ekmanner was born in Stockholm in 1938. While studying in Lund, she was involved in student theater while studying political science and history.
She did not complete a degree there, instead training as an actor at the Scenskolan in Malmö.
Ekmanner was part of the permanent ensemble at Stockholm City Theatre for 20 years, from 1968 to 1989. She performed in plays including Anton Chekhov’s “Three Sisters,” Molière’s “The Misanthrope” and David Hare’s “Amy’s View.” She also worked with Suzanne Osten at Unga Klara.
She then appeared in several productions at the Royal Dramatic Theatre and worked with directors including Ingmar Bergman and Pia Forssgren. Among her best-known productions was Bergman’s staging of “The Marquise of O,” in which she played the Countess Saint-Fond.
Ekmanner was also politically active and took part in the 1968 occupation of the student union building. She later appeared in several television debate programs.
Her daughter, Frida Cornell, said her mother was always intellectually curious, both in her private life and her profession. Cornell pointed to Ekmanner’s performance of the monologue from Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking” at Gothenburg City Theatre, the first production of it in Sweden.
In 1965, Ekmanner married film and theater director Jonas Cornell, and the two also worked together. The 1967 film “Puss & Kram” was one such collaboration that gained wide recognition and was one of Ekmanner’s first major film roles.
Theater critic Leif Zern, a close friend of Ekmanner, described her as something of a star. “She played all the great roles and was extremely interested in what the art of acting is.
She loved discussing theater,” he said.
Actress Elin Klinga, who stepped in for a production of “The Marquise of O” in her twenties, recalled how warmly Ekmanner welcomed her and how she was immediately supportive of a young colleague. “Agneta was incredible to meet as a mentor, colleague and stage actor.
She had a distinctive intensity and depth,” Klinga said.
Throughout her career, Ekmanner received several awards and honors, including Svenska Dagbladet’s Thalia Prize. In 1994, she received the Sankt Eriksmedaljen, Stockholm’s highest honor.
