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Gösta Ekman


Lichtbild aus "Faust" 1926

1890 - 1938

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The actor Gösta Ekman was regarded as a theater legend in Sweden of the 10's and 20's - a naming he already got to in his lifetime.
His charisma and his stage presence brought him a huge following and let him become the first Swedish theater star. 

He made his stage debut in 1908 and belonged to the Swedish Theater of Stockholm from 1913 to 1925.
Besides his activity on the stage he also directed the Oscar Theater and the Concert House Theater, and from 1931 to 1935 he led his own theater called Vasa-Theater.

Gösta Ekman already made his film debut in 1911 where he also was very successful. 
To his first movies belong "Blott en dröm" (11), "Systarna" (12), "Trädgardsmästaren" (12) directed by Victor Sjöstrom, "Den okända" (13) directed by Mauritz Stiller and "Mästerkatten i stövlar" (18).

The height of his film career followed in the 20's and he impersonated impressive roles in many movies. To these movies belong "Thora van Deken" (20), "En lyckoriddare" (21), "Carl XII's kurir" (24), "Klovnen" (26), "En perfekt gentleman" (27) and "Gustaf Wasa" (28).

In 1926 Gösta Ekman made his film debut in Germany and impersonated the title character in one of the most important German silent movies of the 20's. We are speaking about Murnau's"Faust" (26) with Emil Jannings as Mephisto and Camilla Horn as Gretchen.
It followed other German productions like "Revolutionshochzeit/Die grosse Liebe" (29) and "Mach' mir die Welt zum Paradies" (30).

In the sound film era of the 30's he acted nearly exclusively in Sweden again, to his movies of those years belong "Kanske en diktare" (33), "Tva man om en änka" (33), "Kungen kommer" (36) and "Intermezzo" (36) with a young and still unknown Ingrid Bergman. It was already their second movie, one year earlier they played together in "Swedenhielms" (35).

Besides his activity as an actor he also directed the movie "En perfekt gentleman" (27) and wrote some scripts.

Gösta Ekman was presumed to be a workaholic and the bigger his successes were the bigger became the workload. During the shooting of "Faust" Gösta Ekman came in contact with cocaine when it was offered him as a helpful aid to cope with the work. He became addicted and the drugs affected his health and led eventually to his death at the age 47. 

His son Hasse Ekman became a well-known actor, director and screenwriter for movies. Unfortunately he could not witness the birth of his grandson who was born the year after his death. Hasse Ekman baptised him Gösta Ekman in honour of his father. Today Gösta Ekman jr. belongs to the most successful Swedish actors. His other grandsons are also busy in the film business, Stefan Ekman as an actor and Mikael Ekman as a director. 
 

Other movies with Gösta Ekman:
Stockholmsfrestelser eller Ett Norrlands-herrskaps äventyr i den sköna synderskans stad (11) Bomben (20) Familjens traditioner (20) Gyurkovicsarna (20) Vem dömer (22) Kärlekens ögon (22) Unga greven tar flickan och priset (24) Karl XII (25) Hans engelska fru (27) För hennes skull (30) Brokiga blad (31) Kära släkten (33) Kobenhavn,  Kalundborg og -? (34) Swedenhielms (35) Johan Ulfstjerna (36) Häxnatten (37) 

Writer:
Gyurkoviscarna (20) För hennes skull (30)


 
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