Carl Adolf "Max" von Sydow (/vɒn ˈsiːdoʊ/;Swedish: [fɔn ˈsyːdɔv]; born 10 April 1929) is a Swedish-born French actor. He has appeared in many films, in many languages, including Swedish, Norwegian, English, Italian, German, Danish, French and Spanish. He received the Royal Foundation of Sweden's Cultural Award in 1954, was made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres in 2005, and was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur on 17 October 2012.
Von Sydow has appeared in well over 100 films and TV shows. Some of his most memorable film roles include Knight Antonius Block in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal (1957), the first of his eleven films with Bergman, and the film that includes the iconic scenes in which he plays chess with Death; Martin in Through a Glass Darkly (1961); Jesus in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); Oktober in The Quiller Memorandum (1966); Karl Oskar Nilsson in The Emigrants (1971); Roy Lindberg in The Apple War (1971); Father Lankester Merrin in The Exorcist (1973); Joubert the assassin in Three Days of the Condor (1975); Ming the Merciless in Flash Gordon (1980); the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again (1983); Liet-Kynes in Dune (1984); Frederick in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986); Lassefar in Pelle the Conqueror (1987), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination; Dr. Peter Ingham in Awakenings (1990); Lamar Burgess in Minority Report (2002); Sir Walter Loxley in Robin Hood (2010), and The Renter in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2012), which earned him his second Academy Award nomination. In 2016, Sydow will join the cast of HBO's hit series Game of Thrones, playing the role of the Three-eyed Raven.
Can't stand the light, it hurts my eyes
And it comes as no surprise to find
A broken heart has no reprieve
In all the things we leave behind
I won't forsake you
Don't wanna break you
Don't wanna make you
Make you cry
I can remember, can recall
When once we had it all before
Can't stand up for falling down
When you're not around and no more
I won't forsake you
Don't wanna break you
Don't wanna make you
Make you cry
And time may heal
The pain we feel
But there's nothing real
In this goodbye
It's easy to be kind, kind to strangers
Whilst we hurt the ones we love
And all I've ever wanted
Is just to be a father to a child
I won't forsake you
Don't wanna break you
Don't wanna make you
Make you, make you cry
And time may heal
The pain we feel
But there's nothing real