MUMBAI: Swedish actor Swedish actor Erland Josephson, best known for his many collaborations with director Ingmar Bergman, expired on 25 February in Stockholm after a lengthy battle with Parkinson‘s disease. He was 88.

In his long career, Josephson, the self-trained actor appeared in nearly 100 films and TV series as well as countless stage productions. His best-known work was with Bergman, whom he met during the late 1930s when he just 16 years old, was cast in a production of The Merchant of Venice that Bergman was directing at the age of 21.
 
It was the beginning of a lifelong collaboration that saw the actor and director work together on 40 films and stage plays including classics like Scenes From a Marriage (1973) and Fanny and Alexander (1982).

Though he was invited by Hollywood, Josephson preferred the European film and theatre scene. He reportedly turned down Richard Dreyfuss‘ role in Jaws 2 saying that he‘d prefer to have "intellectual battles with Liv Ullmann than fight with some shark.

In addition to his acting, Josephson was creative director of Sweden‘s Royal Dramatic Theater from 1966-75 — a position he took over from Bergman. He was a prolific writer of plays, novels and memoirs. He also directed Marmalade Revolution (1980) that was screened in the competition section at the Berlin International Film Festival.