Björn Andresen, once known as "the most beautiful boy in the world" during his youth, has passed away at 70. The news was confirmed on Sunday by the former actor's daughter to the Swedish press along with the directors of the 2021 documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World, Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri. Kristian shared that the former actor was "a brave person". Björn rose to fame after being discovered by Italian filmmaker Luchino Visconti in 1970 for his breakout role. Luchino travelled across Europe in search of the star who would front his adaptation of Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice. The director discovered 15-year-old Björn in Stockholm, and the film premiered a year later, in March 1971, in London.
During the premiere, Luchino dubbed Björn as "the most beautiful boy in the world". The Swedish actor portrayed Tadzio, a beautiful boy who becomes the object of an older man’s obsession, played by Dirk Bogarde. However, the overnight fame wasn't all glamorous, as Björn suffered from depression and addiction as a result. "I felt like an exotic animal in a cage," he told The Guardian in 2003. In 2021, the actor admitted to the publication that the film had "screwed up my life quite decently". Björn explained that Luchino had taken him to a gay nightclub when he was just 16 years old, an experience that he shared made him "very uncomfortable". "The waiters at the club … looked at me uncompromisingly as if I was a nice meaty dish," he said. "I knew I couldn’t react. It would have been social suicide. But it was the first of many such encounters."
© Corbis via Getty ImagesBjörn was born in Stockholm in 1955 and was raised by his grandmother after his mother’s suicide when he was ten years old. His grandmother encouraged him to pursue acting and modelling as "she wanted a celebrity in the family". The former actor shared two children – a daughter, Robine, and a son, Elvin, who died at 9 months old – with his ex-wife, Susanna Roman. In addition to his role in Death in Venice, Björn starred in over 30 movies and TV series.
© Getty Images"Kristina and I had long talked about wanting to make a full-length film about Björn," shared Kristian Petri. "The idea was that he would tell his story himself, and we talked to him for a whole year before we started filming. Then we filmed for several years – and it was both a fun, and at times painful, shoot."
