Björn Andrésen, star of Death in Venice, dies aged 70
Death and legacy
The Swedish actor and musician who became globally famous as a 15‑year‑old in Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film has died, a career haunted by early fame and exploitation claims. Björn Andrésen, the Swedish actor who shot to international fame as the androgynous youth Tadzio in Luchino Visconti’s Death in Venice, has died at 70. His death was announced by filmmakers Kristian Petri and Kristina Lindström, co‑directors of the 2021 documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World; no cause has been disclosed. Cast as a striking, almost ethereal presence, Andrésen was catapulted from obscurity into a privacy‑shattering spotlight. The image of Tadzio – beautiful, distant, and mournful – became inseparable from the young man who played him.
The burden of early fame
What began as sudden acclaim swiftly hardened into a lifelong burden: adulation mixed with objectification, opportunities shaped by a single early role, and a public curiosity that never quite let him be ordinary. Andrésen himself later spoke about the darker cost of that fame, saying the attention and the way he was treated around the film had been damaging. He described a life in which the role both defined him and haunted him — an identity imposed from outside that shadowed other hopes and possibilities. He leaves behind a complicated legacy: a performance that remains haunting and unforgettable, and a human story that reminds us how powerfully, and perilously, the world can seize a young life. Those who knew him and those moved by his work will remember both the beauty he projected on screen and the very human cost of that early, relentless spotlight.
Career, family and later life
Andrésen was cast at 15 in Visconti’s Death in Venice (1971); Visconti dubbed him “the most beautiful boy in the world.” He said the label and sudden fame left him feeling like “an exotic animal in a cage” and that the film had “screwed up my life.” Andrésen alleged difficult experiences with Visconti, including being taken to a nightclub at 16 and later describing the director as indifferent and predatory. After Venice he found success in Japan as a pop star and continued acting and music, appearing in more than 30 projects, including 2019’s Midsommar. He had two children with ex‑wife Susanna (or Suzanna) Roman; their son Elvin died in infancy and he is survived by daughter Robine.
Documentary and sources
The documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (2021), co‑directed by Petri and Lindström, examined his life and won awards at Sundance. Andrésen’s story illustrates how sudden international acclaim at a young age can shape and complicate a performer’s life. Sources emphasise ongoing debate over the director’s conduct, long‑term personal costs for Andrésen and a later career that mixed popular success in Japan with quieter work in Sweden. Observers note uncertainty over his final years and the lack of a disclosed cause of death.
Sources: The Guardian: Björn Andrésen, Swedish actor who starred in Death in Venice, dies aged 70; The Hollywood Reporter: Björn Andrésen Dead: 'Death in Venice' Star Was 70; Daily Star: Agatha Christie star who shot to fame in iconic 70s film dies as tributes pour in
