Cannes-winning Swede Per Oscarsson died in fire: police
AFP
STOCKHOLM- Swedish actor Per Oscarsson, who took top honours at the 1966 Cannes film festival, and his wife, died in a fire that burned their home to the ground last week, police said Wednesday.
Oscarsson, 83, and his wife Kia Oestling, 67, had been feared dead after human remains were found at the weekend among the ashes left of their home, an isolated house near the small town of Skara.
Swedish media said the bodies were identified with dental records.
The cause of the fire on Thursday night was unclear.
Oscarsson is beloved in his home country, where he appeared in theatre, films, television series and popular children's specials.
He won Best Actor at the 1966 Cannes film festival for his lead role as Pontus in Henning Carlsen's "Hunger", an adaptation of the novel by Norwegian Nobel Literature laureate Knut Hamsun.
Most recently Oscarsson played a part in the screen version of the cult "Millennium" crime trilogy by late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, depicting Holger Palmgren, the legal guardian of heroine Lisbeth Salander.
Since news began emerging Friday he may have perished in the fire, tributes to Oscarsson have filled Swedish media, describing him as a "legend of Swedish film" and a "captivating actor with a big heart".
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