Swedish actor Per Oscarsson, a household name in his country who appeared in two films based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, has died along with his wife.
Police in the town of Skara, in southwest Sweden, say the couple likely perished when their house burned down.
They believe the 83-year-old actor and his wife, Kia Ostling, were at home when a fire engulfed their home Thursday night or Friday morning.
"Relatives have told us that the couple was staying in the house over New Year's," police officer Carina Anderson told the TT news agency. "They haven't heard that they had any plans to travel."
Police spokesman Jan Strommegard said Sunday that remains were found at the scene but have not been verified. The cause of the fire is unknown.
Bo Lustig of the Skara emergency services said the house had already burned down when they arrived. Only the chimney still stands. Lustig said a relative living nearby made the discovery late Friday morning.
The house is in an isolated area just outside of Skara, 33 kilometres southwest of Stockholm.
Oscarsson, who began his career in the 1940s, appeared in theatre, films, TV series and children's specials in Sweden.
He won a best actor award at the Cannes film festival in 1966 for his role as a starving writer in the movie Hunger.
His most recent role was Holger Palmgren, guardian and lawyer to Lisbeth Salander, the heroine of Larson's blockbuster crime trilogy. Oscarsson appears in The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second of the Swedish films based on Larson's books, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.
American critic Roger Ebert hailed Oscarsson's performance in the role and described him as "a great Swedish actor … who incredibly never worked with [Ingmar] Bergman."
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2011/01/02/oscarsson-obit.html#ixzz19wjm2HCv