Anita Björk is able to use simple means to give depth and character to
a role. She has a way of expressing any emotion just by raising an
eyebrow or twitching her lips. This was something she used to a large
extent in her best movie,
Alf Sjöberg's
Miss Julie (1951) where she played the young
lady at a country manor, planning to elope with Jean the butler.
She was bitten by the acting bug in her teens and went to Stockholm.
She started her acting studies at the Royal Dramatic Theater in 1942
and quickly got major roles. Her breakthrough came 1948 in
Jean Genet's
'The Maids', followed by such roles as Agnes in 'Henrik Ibsen's
'Brand', Julie in
William Shakespeare's 'Romeo & Juliet', Eliza in
George Bernard Shaw's
'Pygmalion' and Tintomara in 'Carl Jonas Love Almqvist''s 'Drottningens juvelsmycke'.
She met and fell in love with the writer
Stig Dagerman and in 1951 she gave
birth to a daughter. The three of them went to Hollywood for Anita to
negotiate a role in Alfred Hitchcock's
I Confess (1953). But when word came out
that Anita wasn't married to Stig, Hollywood lost interest. His divorce
from his ex-wife wasn't final until 1953 and apparently it wasn't
acceptable to Hollywood for a contract player to live with someone
married to somebody else.
In West Germany she played against
Gregory Peck in
Night People (1954) but when the
movie failed at the box office, so did her career abroad. Also, her
husband killed himself and Anita decided to stick to the Royal Dramatic
Theater where she has appeared in more than 80 roles through the years.
In movies, she has appeared mainly in supporting roles.
Of her movies, the most interesting are
Miss Julie (1951),
På dessa skuldror (1948) and
Mannekäng i rött (1958).
Hello Ingmar(2001)as Rakel
Bildmakarna(2000)as Selma Lagerlöf
Musik mellan sekelskiften(1999)as Narrator
Sanna ögonblick(1998)as Karin
In the Presence of a Clown(1997)as Anna Åkerblom
Fröken Julie: 100 år i Rampljuset(2006)as Self
Sommar & Vinter i P1(1959)as Self
Préfaces(1989)as Self
Dagerman(1989)
