Björn Andrésen, the Swedish actor best known for his role in the 1971 film Death in Venice, has died at the age of 70. His death was announced on Sunday by the co-directors of a documentary about his life, Kristian Petri and Kristina Lindström. Petri told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that Andrésen died on Saturday; no cause of death was given.
Andrésen was just 15 when he was cast as Tadzio in Luchino Visconti's adaptation of Thomas Mann's novella. Visconti famously dubbed him 'the most beautiful boy in the world', a label that haunted Andrésen for decades. He later described the experience as dehumanising, telling the Guardian in 2003: 'I felt like an exotic animal in a cage.'
After Death in Venice, Andrésen found fame in Japan as a pop star and model, but his acting career never reached similar heights. He described his trajectory as 'one of the few that started at the absolute top and then worked its way down'. He continued to act in Swedish films and TV, and in 2019 appeared in Ari Aster's horror film Midsommar, playing an elderly man killed during a pagan ritual.
Andrésen was born in Stockholm in 1955 and raised by his grandmother after his mother's suicide. He had two children with ex-wife Suzanna Roman: daughter Robine and son Elvin, who died in infancy. In later years, Andrésen found peace with his career, but remained critical of Visconti, calling him a 'cultural predator'.
