Swedish directing icon Ingmar Bergman dies

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (UPI) -- Film director Ingmar Bergman, acclaimed for his dark films of tormented relationships, died Monday at his home on the island of Faro, Sweden, at age 89.

His daughter, Eva Bergman, said the director died "peacefully," The Local reported Monday.

He won Academy Awards for "The Virgin Spring," "Through a Glass Darkly" and "Fanny and Alexander," as well as the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1971.

Bergman became interested in theater and cinema after leaving Stockholm University, beginning his filmmaking career shortly after World War II.

He caught international attention early with "Summer with Monika," whose nude scenes created controversy abroad and were credited with giving Sweden its reputation as a sexually liberated country, the Local said.

Known in Sweden as a dramatist, Bergman's work was considered dark and often incomprehensible, with its focus on love, loneliness, anguish, relations with God and the mysteries of women.

Bergman also was an accomplished stage director, managing and directing the Malmo City Theater and the Stockholm Royal Dramatic Theater. He was also director of the Residenz-Theater of Munich, Germany.

Four of Bergman's five marriages ended in divorce. His last wife, Ingrid, died in 1995. He had nine children