Swedish actor Bjorn Andresen, whom the world remembered as “the most beautiful boy of the twentieth century”, died at the age of 71.
The death was reported by Dagens Nyheter, referring to director Christian Petrie – the author of the documentary film “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World” (2021).
The actor became world famous with the film “Death in Venice” by Italian director Lucino Visconti, released in 1971.
Andresen played the role of Tadzio – an aristocratic young man, in which a few years before his death falls in love with an elderly composer.
For millions of viewers, Andresen forever remained young Tadzio – the epitome of ephemeral beauty and tragic adoration, writes the British Telegraph in a piece on the actor’s life, concluding with an interview he gave a few years before his death.
Like a boy with Tajo – of ephemeral beauty and tragic worship, writes the British Telegraph in a piece dedicated to the actor’s life. lucino Visconti was an Italian director, aristocrat, openly gay and one of the most influential masters of European cinema. He was looking for an actor to play the role of Tajio for his new film “Death in Venice” based on the novel by Thomas Mann.
The main character is an elderly writer who suddenly falls in love with a young boy on the beach in Venice.
Visconti had been searching for the “perfect beauty” for a long time: he travelled to Hungary, Poland, Finland, even Russia. But in vain. Until 15-year-old Bjorn did not come to the casting in a Stockholm hotel.
The director just looked – and understood everything.
“Great!” – he exclaimed. “Ask him to undress.”
The scene was filmed. The footage shows the bewildered boy obediently complying with the request.
Andresen later recalled:
“I was embarrassed. Very frustrated. I didn’t realise the charm of the aunt. His Venice is a city of death and beauty, where youth becomes a symbol of a divine, unattainable ideal.
Author photo, Getty Images
Andresen, with his gentle looks, melancholy and childlike insecurity, became the perfect Tajio.
“He was different. He had a sad tenderness that Visconti sensed immediately,” recalls director Christian Petri.
After the premiere at Cannes, Visconti called Bjorn “the most beautiful boy in the world.” He then added: “It’s a pity he’s already faded in a year.”
This phrase, said Andresen, haunted him all his life.
Fame, which became a trap
After the film, the young actor became an international sensation. They invited him to a TV show, shot him for cover and took him to receptions. A glittering but predatory world revolved around him, he recalled in an interview with The Telegraph.
“I felt I was playing on stage, writing music, performing in a band called Sven Erics. But no amount of work could erase Tajio’s shadow.
He married poet Suzanne Roman and they had a daughter Robin and a son Alvin. But nine months after birth, the boy died of sudden infant death syndrome.
Andresen struggled with depression, addiction and lived in poverty.
In 2021, Christian Petrie and Kristina Lindström made a documentary film about him called “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World”.
On screen, the 70-year-old Andresen is in an old flat, amidst belongings and memories. He tells how the role that brought him fame turned him into a prisoner.
“‘Death in Venice’ ruined my life,” he admits in the footage.
Author photo, Mantaray Film
There is a scene in the film where he is asked: what would he say to Visconti if he were alive?
“But he’s gone. )Despite everything, Andresen did not disappear from the art world. He continued to act – mostly in independent and Scandinavian films.
His most famous late work was the role of an elder in Ari Aster’s film Midsommar.
The director admitted that he deliberately offered Andresen “to destroy the myth of beauty, which has become a curse”.
The actor himself assessed his life as follows: “I do not regret anything. My life has been chaotic from the beginning. Maybe I would have liked a little more orders. But happiness…? Yes, I was still happy.