Liv Ullmann has given out many Oscars. Now she gets her own.
The great Norwegian actor Liv Ullmann has been nominated for best actress twice, but has never won an Oscar in her 50 years in the business
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Your support makes all the difference.Liv Ullmann likes to say that sheās given away many Oscars in her life. But sheās not talking about losing.
The great Norwegian actor was once a frequent presenter at the awards. She called Peter Finchās name for his posthumous Oscar for āNetworkā and stood beside Roger Moore when Sacheen Littlefeather accepted the statuette for Marlon Brando.
So when she heard the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was trying to get in touch with her recently, she figured she was going to be asked to āgive awayā another. But David Rubin had better news for her: It was her turn to get one.
The award will be officially given to her at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Friday. Elaine May, Samuel L. Jackson and Danny Glover are also being feted with honorary Oscars.
āHe really made it sound like I got my Oscar with that telephone conversation,ā Ullmann, 83, said earlier this week from her part-time residence in Key Largo. āI felt I had just been congratulated with a beautiful life. I hung up the phone and thought, āOh Liv, you are so lucky.āā
Ullmann was nominated for best actress twice, first for Jan Troellās āThe Emigrantsā in 1971, in which she was up against Cicely Tyson (āSounderā), Diana Ross (āLady Sings the Bluesā) and Liza Minnelli (āCabaretā), who won. A few years later she and Ingmar Bergman were up for āFace to Face,ā and she brought her and Bergman's then-12-year-old daughter.
Neither won, which was fine by her. But after, she thought, āOh the poor little one! Mommy and Daddy, they were losers,ā she laughed.
Ullmann was born in Tokyo in 1938. Her Norwegian father was an engineer whose work took them around the globe. When she was 6 and they were living in New York, her father died after an accident with a propeller. She and her mother and sister soon moved back to Norway, where she was raised.
She got her start in theater and became quite famous for her turn as Nora in āA Dollās Houseā in the 1950s. It drew the attention of Edith Carlmar, Norwayās first female director, who gave Ullmann her first film role.
āI was very innocent and she said, 'You know itās a wayward girl?āā Ullmann said. āI was shy. And she said, āAre you a virgin?ā I couldnāt believe it. I got the part anyway. My family tried to stop me because they didnāt want me to be a wayward girl. But it was an incredible experience. She was a great teacher.ā
But Ullmann became an international star when she started working with Bergman, a personal and professional collaboration that began with her breakout role in 1966ās āPersona.ā Bergman wrote the film after a single encounter with her and her best friend Bibi Andersson (who had already been in several of his films). Though one of two leads, she has only one line in the film as a stage actress who has stopped speaking. She said she understood that in some ways Bergman wrote her character with himself in mind.
āI did a lot of talking for Ingmar,ā she said. āWe never discussed it. And I may be wrong, but I donāt think Iām wrong.ā
All told, she acted in 10 of his movies, including āThe Passion of Annaā (1969), āCries and Whispersā (1972), āFace to Faceā (1976) and āAutumn Sonataā (1978), and directed two scripts he wrote. Their romantic relationship also resulted in the birth of her only child.
When she got the opportunity to direct her first film, Bergman was her first call.
āI said, āIngmar, theyāre asking me if I can direct, do you think I can direct?ā And Ingmar said, āYes, you can direct Liv,āā she laughed. āIt was only then that I really understood how wonderful actors are.ā
Looking back at her roles, itās Troellās two-part saga āThe Emigrantsā and āThe New Land,ā about a Swedish family coming to America in the mid-19th century, that have only become more meaningful over the years. The films are about refugees, yes, but theyāre also about marriage and love and motherhood. And they allowed Ullmann to live a life sheād always dreamed about.
āI always wanted just one man and it became more than one man. I always wanted many children, and I have one,ā she said. But thatās why itās good to be an actor. You get to live the life you never lived.ā
While sheās excited about the Governors Awards, she also canāt help but think of war and going to a big celebration āas if nothing else is happening. Because something else IS happening.ā In addition to her own familyās wartime experiences (her grandfather died at Dachau for his efforts helping Jews escape from Norway), she was the first woman to be a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF.
At the moment, Ullmann is busy and in good spirits (āYou caught me at a happy hour,ā she said), splitting her time between Key Largo (though she's ānot a Florida person. I'm Nordic") and Massachusetts with her husband, although she'll always consider Norway her home. Her filmmaker grandson will be accompanying her to the ceremony Friday and after sheās done in Los Angeles sheāll head to London where the British Film Institute is doing a monthlong celebration of her work and then to New York to rehearse a show.
She doesnāt think sheāll direct any more films. Her fifth, and last, was the 2014 adaption of āMiss Julie,ā starring Jessica Chastain, who last year played Ullmanās role in an update of āScenes From a Marriage."
āI would love to direct, but I know I have to make the borders. I admire Jane Campion, and she will direct more movies, but to do what she does, you have to be strong and young. Iām strong but old,ā she said. āBut maybe I will do one more film as an actress."
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr