I’m thinking of this actor, whom I discovered recently.
Bjorn Andresen.
Björn Andrésen was only 15 when he was offered a role for a great Italian filmmaker.
The young Swedish teenager already does not have an easy life. An orphan, he never knew his father and endured his mother’s suicide when he was only ten years old and he lives with his grandmother. It is a chance for him to become an actor.
He then became Luchino Visconti’s Tadzio and star of Death in Venice .
The words of the film, on desire, forbidden loves, go over his head, he does not speak the language, and Visconti gives him indications such as “advance”, “retreat” , ” smile ” , ” get away ”. That’s all.
The film is cardboard. Björn Andrésen arrives at the height of his glory. But the one on whom we will impose the role of “the most beautiful boy in the world” will see his life turned upside down when he understands, after the screening of the film in Cannes, that he is only a sexual object and a source of fantasy. for Visconti and the rest of the film crew.
“ I was just 16, Visconti and the team took me to a gay club. Almost the whole team was gay. The club server made me very uncomfortable. They were all staring at me, ruthless, like a piece of meat . »
He will tell years after that this feature film destroyed his life.
Björn Andrésen is then sent to Japan, a country in which he becomes a real darling.
As he goes through commercials and songs, the young blond boy cracks and ends up fleeing. He will fall into alcohol, depression and oblivion… A brutal fall which will have been fatal for his career.
He is 68 today.
Arte has released a very interesting documentary on its history.