Björn Andrésen, the Swedish actor and musician who played young Tadzio in ‘Death in Venice’ (1971), has died at the age of 70, Kristian Petri, co-director of the documentary about Andrésen’s life, ‘The Most Beautiful Boy in the World’ (2021), has confirmed to a Swedish newspaper.
‘Death in Venice’, the strange and fascinating film by Luchino Visconti, based on the novel of the same name by Thomas Mann, immediately turned Andrésen into an international cultural icon of the time, and a symbol of youthful beauty thanks to his androgyny. He was especially popular in Europe, and in Japan his fame came to be compared to that of the Beatles.
In ‘Death in Venice’, Andrésen played a young Polish man who becomes the object of desire of the protagonist, a mature composer (played by Dirk Bogarde) who travels to Venice in search of rest after a creative and personal crisis. The historical backdrop of ‘Death in Venice’ is a cholera epidemic ravaging the city.
Andrésen, who also composed and played the piano, was barely 15 years old when he rose to fame and that role had a profound impact on him, leaving him with emotional consequences that he would detail in ‘The Most Beautiful Boy in the World’. The documentary – whose title comes from an expression Visconti himself used to refer to Andrésen – shows how this idealization and the exploitation of his image affected his identity, his mental health and his personal relationships.
The role of Tadzio forever marked the film career of Andrésen, who never repeated the notoriety of that character. During the 70s and 80s, he participated in films, choirs and television series, and in 2019 his brief but memorable appearance in ‘Midsommar’, where he played the elderly Dane Dan, was understood as recognition of his career.
