One of the few advantages — if you could call it that — of being an insomniac is the ability to find out about important or interesting news stories before your neighbors are awake. Which brings us to what I suppose is today’s third important death after Mike Reid and Bill Robinson — the great Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman.


There are no details as of yet, but AP is reporting that he died this morning in Faro, Sweden. As Bergman (above) was one of the most influential stylists of the 20th Century, I’m sure there will be lengthy obits in tomorrow’s papers chronicaling his fantastic career. Over the course of that career, Bergman’s films won 7 Academy Awards (for “The Virgin Spring,” “Through A Glass Darkly,” “Cries and Whispers” and “Fanny and Alexander”), though he is probably best known for the iconic “The Seventh Seal,” in which Max von Sydow plays chess with Death.

Which in turn inspired “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey” in which the heroes of San Dimas High played Death in Battleship and Twister, among other challenges. Um. Anyway, you can read about Bergman’s fantastic life and work in his Wikipedia entry.

Update: Bergman’s full AP obituary is now available.


Double Death (?) Update: AP is now reporting that Tom Snyder has died. So forget about the rule of threes, I guess. No mention in the brief obit of his interview of Johnny Lydon, one of his funnier moments.