'Elvira Madigan' director dies

Bo Widerberg, who directed the acclaimed film Elvira Madigan and was nominated three times for an Academy Award, died aged 66. He died in a hospital in Angelholm, southern Sweden, of a long illness. His most recent Oscar nomination was in 1996, for All Things Fair, about an intense relationship between a 15-year-old high-school student and his 37-year-old female teacher. The previous nominations were in 1964 for Raven's End and in 1969 for Adalen 31. Widerberg, noted for his sharp realism, began his artistic career as a novelist, then branched into film in 1963 with The Baby Carriage. He was often at odds with Ingmar Bergman.

AP - Stockholm