Name Erik Bergman Role Lutheran minister | Spouse Karin Bergman (m. 1913) | |
![]() | ||
Full Name Erik Henrik Fredrik Bergman Children Ingmar Bergman, Margareta Bergman, Dag Bergman Similar People Ingmar Bergman, Ellen Bergman, Daniel Bergman, Eva Bergman, Mats Bergman | ||
Great grandchildren Michael Mats Brown |
Erik Henrik Fredrik Bergman (22 October 1886 – 26 April 1970) was a Swedish parish minister of the Lutheran Church and the father of diplomat Dag Bergman, novelist Margareta Bergman, and film director Ingmar Bergman.
Erik Bergman was born at Mörbylånga in 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, his second cousin. Bergman wrote an autobiography for his daughter Margareta in 1941. Ingmar Bergman later consulted it to write the semi-biographical script about his parents' complex courtship in The Best Intentions (1992), 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 father and his complex relationship with his son is a somber theme in Ingmar Bergman films, such as Fanny and Alexander.
Erik Bergman died in Stockholm in 1970.