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Surprising Facts You Didn’t Know About These Iconic ’70s Stars

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#31: Max von Sydow Accepted Roles Studios Warned Would Destroy His Leading-Man Image

Max von Sydow repeatedly ignored studio advice in the 1970s, choosing psychologically and spiritually disturbing roles over safer prestige parts. Executives warned him that playing priests, heretics, and tortured figures would alienate audiences expecting conventional heroism.

In The Exorcist (1973), Max von Sydow plays an elderly priest. As Sydow was only 44, it took them 4 hours in makeup every time so he'd look old enough. They did

He accepted them anyway. Films like The Exorcist leaned into moral ambiguity rather than charm. Von Sydow’s refusal to protect his image gave his work unusual gravity, proving that seriousness—not likability—could sustain a career during a decade obsessed with depth and discomfort.