Gustaf Molander

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Gustaf Harald August Molander (18 November 1888 – 19 June 1973) was a Swedish actor and film director. His parents were the director Harald Molander (1858-1973) and the singer and actress Lydia Molander, née Wessler, and his brother was the director Olof Molander (1892-1966). Father of actor Jan Molander.

Gustaf Molander was born in Helsinki in Finland, where his father was working at the Swedish Theatre. He studied in the school of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm 1907-1909, acted at the Swedish theatre in Helsinki 1909-1913, and then at the Royal Dramatic Theatre from 1913-1926. The last years there he headed the school; his students included Greta Garbo.

Molander wrote several screenplays for Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller, and was helped by the latter to get employment as a director for Svensk Filmindustri, where he worked 1923-1956. All in all, he directed sixty-two films. He often worked with Gösta Ekman, and his films include Intermezzo (1936), which became Ingrid Bergman's breakthrough and paved her way to America, where she starred in the 1939 Hollywood remake of the film.