Erik Bergman

Who was Erik Bergman?

Erik Henrik Fredrik Bergman was a Swedish parish minister of the Lutheran Church and Ingmar Bergman's father.

Erik Bergman was born at Mörbylånga, Kalmar County in 1886. He was ordained to the Swedish State Church in Uppsala in 1912 and served as a priest in Valbo as of 1913. In 1918 he was relocated to Stockholm and served as a minister at Hedvig Eleonora Church where he became the parish vicar in 1934. In that capacity he also served as a royal chaplain to the Swedish royal court.

He was married to nurse Karin Åkerblom. Ingmar Bergman later wrote the semi-biographical script about his parents' complex courtship in The Best Intentions, a story that includes the unhappy early years of their marriage up to the point where the mother is pregnant with her second son, effectively Ingmar himself. Erik Bergman was a rather strict family father and his complex relationship with his son is a somber theme in Ingmar Bergman movies such as Fanny and Alexander.

Erik Bergman died in Stockholm in 1970.