Lorens Marmstedt

Biography

Lorens Marmstedt, born Sigfrid Lorenzo Eriksson on October 29, 1908 in Stockholm, Sweden, was a producer, director and writer. "It was he who taught me to make the film" (Ingmar Bergman). During his childhood Lorens lived with his father, a Swedish businessman, and his Italian mother, in France, Italy and Sweden. When his father died, he changed his last name from Eriksson to Marmstedt. 1927, only 18 years old, he was hired as a film critic by one of Stockholms most prominent newspapers, Svenska Dagbladet. He became one of Sweden's first cinephiles and wrote appreciatively about Soviet film, Ernst Lubitsch and René Clair. In 1932 he made his debut as film director with a musical drama "En stulen vals/ A stolen waltz". Six years later, 1938, Lorens Marmstedt founded the production company Terrafilm. He collaborated at first with directors Schamyl Bauman and Anders Henrikson. Later he involved the new generation of filmmakers, Hasse Ekman, Hampe Faustman and Ingmar Bergman. He became the main player in the Swedish film. In 1950 he founded the theatre house Intima Teatern in Stockholm. It opened with Ingmar Bergman's production of "The Threepenny Opera". Lorens Marmstedt produced 50 feature films and directed six during his active period from 1932 to 1966. Lorens Marmstedt passed away on April 4, 1966, during the filming of Arne Mattsson's "Yngsjömordet", starring Gunnel Lindblom and Hasse Ekman's son Gösta.