One of Sweden's most popular and appreciated male character actors in
Swedish films in the 1930s-50s, highly appreciated for his naturalness
as an actor (rare of his 1880s theatre generation) that he always
presented on screen and his warm comedy play. With his 130-plus film
roles in his life he's also still the record holder of most roles for a
single male actor on film in Sweden.
Born in Stockholm, the son of a painter/carpenter, Gösta Cederlund made
his professional stage debut at Svenska teatern (Swedish Theatre;
Sweden's national stage 1875-1925) in 1907. He first turned to the
silent screen where he got to play arrogant farm workers and fighting
school boys in silent films at young age, first appearing on screen in
Das Mädchen vom Moorhof (1917) in 1917. Later on film during the talkies era, in 1930s-50s, he
generally got to play the good old uncles; remarkably often he
portrayed middle-aged newspaper editors or doctors. Constantly he nice
and family secure characters of the middle class. But there are
exceptions: his ice-cool and scary performance as the cynical banker in
director Hasse Ekman's masterpiece Das Mädchen mit den Hyazinthen (1950) (Girl with Hyacinths, 1950) and
his tormented old actor in Nattens ljus (1957) (1957). Both brilliant performances.
Among his most appreciated film roles we find his Professor Hagstam in
films Wir Zwei (1939) (1939) and Vi tre (1940) (1940), the stern Detective Inspector
Lilja in the crime drama Ett brott (1940) (A Crime, 1940), Markel in drama
Doktor Glas (1942) (1942; based on the success novel of Hjalmar Söderberg), navy captain
Göran Bergsten in comedy Blaue Jacken (1945) (Sailors, 1945), his doctor Hellsten
in drama Var sin väg (1948) (Each to His Own Way, 1948), Margaretha's daddy in
comedy Skolka skolan (1949) (1948; Sickan Carlsson-film), his tight lord with the monocle in
early Swedish musical Greven från gränden (1949) (1949) and, naturally, his tossy but
heart-warm school teacher "Pippi" in Die Hörige (1944) (Frenzy/Torment, 1944),
directed by Alf Sjöberg; internationally known as Ingmar Bergman's film script
debut. The key-scene in the map-room where his teacher confronts the
school's great antagonist Caligula - the sadistic teacher in Latin -
about his teaching methods is one of strongest and most nerving scenes
of the film (and considered one of the best classic scenes all-time in
Sweden).
In the 1950s and 60s Gösta Cederlund was notably part of the Swedish
Television Theatre ensemble (TV-teatern) where he acted in several
classic plays. When Alf Sjöberg staged "Hamlet" for television in 1955 he
gave a particularly strong and touching portrayal of Polonius;
Ophelia's father.
Besides acting, Gösta Cederlund was also employed as film director for
SF (Swedish Film Industry) the year 1943 where he among other films
directed the very controversial Die Strasse der Verlorenen (1943), based on a book by the Swedish
working-class writer Ivar Lo-Johansson, a film dealing with the subject of
prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases in the cities. It was
followed by a vivid national debate and was also banned from many
cinemas (today, film-historically in Sweden, it's considered as one of
the most important and bravest Swedish films made in the 1940s).
Cederlund was a also successfully Managing Director of several
theatre's during his life including The Swedish Theatre in Helsinki
(Finland) 1923-25, the Lorensberg Theatre in Gotheburg 1926 and the
Helsingborg theatre/city theatre 1926-30 (on this post a predecessor to
Ingmar Bergman who later came to lead the theatre in the 1940s).
The last years of his life he worked at the new established modern
Stockholm City Theatre (Stockholms stadsteater), appearing in key roles
in several challenging stage plays throughout the late 1960s and in the
1970s, by the new dramatic writers of these decades, a.o. plays by
Bertoldt Brecht and Samuel Beckett. He made his last film role as the
old caretaker in Monismanien 1995 (1975) 1975, at age 87. He passed away in
1980.
