Björn Andrésen, the Swedish actor and musician whose breakthrough role as a 15-year-old in Luchino Visconti's 1971 masterpiece Death in Venice solidified his legacy as "the most beautiful boy in the world," has passed away at the age of 70. The news of his demise, on Saturday, was announced by Kristian Petri, co-director of the 2021 documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, without revealing the cause of death.
Andrésen's breakthrough role as Tadzio in Death in Venice, an adaptation of Thomas Mann's 1912 novella, saw him catapulted to overnight fame under the watchful eye of Visconti, who famously called him "the most beautiful boy in the world." This moniker haunted him throughout his life, as he recounted his negative experiences with Visconti and the effects of sudden fame. At 16, he was taken to a gay nightclub with a group of grown men by the director, a situation that made him feel "very uncomfortable," especially at such a young age.
"The waiters at the club... looked at me uncompromisingly as if I was a nice meaty dish," he recalled. "I knew I couldn't react. It would have been social suicide. But it was the first of many such encounters." After the film's release, Visconti never spoke with Andrésen again, and the actor spoke openly about how the "most beautiful" label affected him personally and professionally. "I felt like an exotic animal in a cage," he told The Guardian in 2003.
Four years later, in another interview with The Guardian, Andrésen expressed his frustration at being forever associated with Death in Venice and his disdain for the director who "didn't give a fuck" about his feelings. "I've never seen so many fascists and assholes as there are in film and theater," he said. "Luchino was the sort of cultural predator who would sacrifice anything or anyone for the work."
Despite his disillusionment with Hollywood, Andrésen was an accomplished pianist and musician who became a pop star in Japan after the release of Death in Venice. He performed and toured regularly with the Sven Erics dance band. Years later, Petri and Kristina Lindström used Andrésen's "most beautiful" quote as the title of their documentary about him, which also focused on the tragedies that befell him throughout his life. The doc, which premiered at Sundance, won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the festival.
Andrésen's life was marked by tragedy; his father died in an accident when he was young, and his mother died by suicide when he was 10. He had two children with his ex-wife, poet Susanna Roman: a daughter, Robine, and a son, Elvin, who died of sudden infant death syndrome at 9 months old while Andrésen reportedly lay next to him, drunk. This event sent Andrésen into a deep depression and a period of alcohol abuse.
Despite describing his career as "chaos," Andrésen appeared in more than 30 movies and TV series, including a small role in the 2019 folk horror film Midsommar. His legacy will live on through his talent, his bravery in speaking out against injustice, and the enduring impact of his iconic role in Death in Venice.
