Actor Jacob Ericksson, best known internationally for his role in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo franchise, has passed away.
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The Swedish outlet Riksteatern reported that he died on Friday morning after battling lymphoma. He had starred in several major films and TV series, and also excelled on Sweden’s theater stages.
This fall, he was scheduled for a national theater tour, a collaboration that had to be canceled due to his illness. Ericksson was 58 years old.
Ericksson studied at the Scenskolan in Gothenburg and began his career at Backa Teater. He has appeared in several Swedish films, including Adam and Eve by Hannes Holm and Måns Herngren, and The Explosive directed by Colin Nutley.
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Eriksson is best known to American audiences through Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series. Eriksson played Christer Malm, who is Millennium’s art director and co-owner across all three installments of the franchise, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, which all dropped in 2009.
Ericksson also performed on several of Sweden’s leading theater stages. In recent years, he appeared in Lars Norén’s Tiden är vårt hem at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern and in Galeasen’s production of Fanny and Alexander.
For Riksteatern, he gave critically acclaimed performances in The Lady of the Camellias, directed by Sunil Munshi, and in Ellen Babic by Marius von Mayenburg. This fall,
Ericksson was scheduled for a national theater tour in August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death. However, he had to withdraw due to illness.
His 20-year-old son, Hugo Eriksson, spoke out about his father’s death.
“He has always been a very safe place for me. A father figure, but for me, he was also a best friend. We had a lot of fun together, he always made me laugh,” he told Expressen.
Hugo also described his father as a calm and secure person to whom he could tell anything.
“I have never seen him angry or upset. He was calm, but extremely funny,” he added.
He is also survived by his daughter Johanna and his wife Karin.