Björn Andrésen, the Swedish actor who rose to fame as a teen in 1971’s Death in Venice and later appeared in the revered 2019 horror film Midsommar, has died.
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Kristian Petri, co-director of The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (a 2021 documentary about Andrésen), confirmed via the Swedish outlet SVT that Andrésen died on Saturday. No cause of death was revealed. He was 70.
Andrésen gained fame at 15, starring as Tadzio in Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film Death in Venice. The movie, an adaptation of Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella, depicts an older man, played by Dirk Bogarde, becoming obsessed with Tadzio.
At the film’s premiere, Visconti declared Andrésen “the most beautiful boy in the world,” a label that would stay with him for life.
After the film was released, Visconti never spoke to Andrésen again. The actor later spoke openly about how the “most beautiful” label affected him personally and professionally. “I felt like an exotic animal in a cage,” he told The Guardian in 2003.
Björn Andrésen Enjoyed a Stint as a Pop Star in Japan
Andrésen was also an accomplished pianist and musician. Following Death in Venice, he became a pop star in Japan, regularly performing and touring with the Sven Erics dance band.
Many Manga fans believe the actor’s look as a teen even influenced a generation of manga artists.
Years later, Petri and Kristina Lindström released The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, a documentary about Andrésen. It focused on the tragedies he experienced, premiered at Sundance, and won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize.
“Kristina and I had long talked about wanting to make a full-length film about Björn,” Petri told Dagens Nyheter. “The idea was that he would tell his story himself. We talked to him for a whole year before we started filming. Then we filmed for several years — and it was both a fun and at times painful shoot.”
He acted in over 30 movies and TV series, including a small part in director Ari Aster’s 2019 folk horror film Midsommar. His scene is one of the film’s most horrific moments, helping cement the movie’s cult status.
Meanwhile, the actor’s personal life was full of tragedy. Andrésen lost his father in an accident at a young age, and his mother died by suicide when he was 10.
Andrésen had two children with poet Susanna Roman: daughter Robine and son Elvin. Elvin died at nine months from sudden infant death syndrome. Reportedly, Andrésen was drunk and next to his son at the time, which led him into deep depression and alcohol abuse.