Born in
Aarhus, Denmark, on 18 April 1918, Axel spent most of his childhood in
Paris in a wealthy Danish manufacturer's family. In 1935, at age 17 following the family's economic collapse, he moved to Denmark and trained as a
cabinet maker. In 1942, Axel was admitted to the acting school at the
Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. After graduating in 1945, he returned to France, where he spent five years on stage in Paris, including at the
Théâtre de l'Athénée under theatre director
Louis Jouvet. During the winter of 1948–1949 he produced
Ludvig Holberg's
Diderich Menschenskraek (
Diderich the Terrible) at
Théâtre de Paris. Axel returned to Denmark in 1950, and broke through as a stage director in the early 1950s. His productions included
La tête des autres (''Other People's Heads
) by Marcel Aymé, Le Cid by Pierre Corneille, and Pour Lucrèce'' by
Jean Giraudoux. Axel started directing for television in 1951, and, from 1951 to 1968, did some 48 television dramas. From 1955, Axel was a director at
Nordisk Film. His debut feature, the social-realist drama
Nothing But Trouble (1955), was highly praised, and the breakthrough came with the TV film
A Woman Not Wanted in 1957. He went on to direct a string of lighter comedies and farces before making the epic Nordic saga
The Red Mantle in 1967, which was selected for
Cannes Film Festival competition and won a Technical Prize (
Mention spéciale du grand prix technique) at the
1967 Cannes Film Festival. His other films include the popular comedy
The Goldcabbage Family (1975) and its sequel, and a series of sexually oriented features including the campaigning
Det kære legetøj (1968) which advocated the legalisation of
pornography in Denmark. With some 16 feature films to his credits Axel returned to
France in 1977, where he directed several large projects for French television, culminating in 1985 with a historical five-episode series, ''
(Heaven's Pillars''). In 1987, Axel returned to Denmark to direct what had been his dream project for over 15 years, and is considered his masterpiece, an adaptation of
Karen Blixen's ''
Babette's Feast''. After screening at the Cannes Film Festival, the film won the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the
60th Academy Awards among others. His next films, the youth drama
Christian (1989), the historical drama
Prince of Jutland (1994), after the legend of
Prince Amleth, and starring
Helen Mirren,
Gabriel Byrne, and
Christian Bale, and
Leïla (2001), a love story set in Morocco, failed to achieve the same international resonance. Alongside his directing career, Axel acted in a dozen Danish films, mostly in colourful supporting roles in popular comedies in the 1950s and 60s. He played the lead as the elegant charlatan
Marcel de Sade in
The Reluctant Sadist (1967). Axel in 1995, was made a Knight of the French
National Order of Merit, in 2000 Commander of the
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 2003 was made Officer of the
Legion of Honour. In 2003, Axel received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the
Copenhagen International Film Festival. In 2012 he received the
Rungstedlund Award. Axel died in his sleep on 9 February 2014 at the age of 95. == Selected filmography ==