In 1941, he became an
assistant cameraman at Sandrews studio, working on
The Poor Millionaire. He moved to
Italy in 1943 to work at
Cinecittà Studios, returning to Sweden two years later. In 1945, aged 23, he became a full-fledged cinematographer, with his first solo credit on
The Children from Frostmo Mountain. He worked on many small
Swedish films for the next few years, and spent some time with his parents in Africa filming wildlife, footage which was later released as a documentary entitled
In the Footsteps of the Witch Doctor (also known as
Under the Southern Cross). Back in Sweden, he began to work with the director
Ingmar Bergman on
Sawdust and Tinsel (US:
The Naked Night, 1953). He was one of three cinematographers to work on the film, the others being
Gunnar Fischer and Hilding Bladh. during the production of
Through a Glass Darkly, 1960 Nykvist would eventually become Bergman's regular cinematographer. He worked as sole cameraman on Bergman's Oscar-winning films
The Virgin Spring (1959) and
Through a Glass Darkly (1960). He revolutionised the way faces are shot in
close-up with Bergman's psychologic drama
Persona (1966). After working with other Swedish directors, including
Alf Sjöberg on
The Judge (1960) and
Mai Zetterling on
Loving Couples (1964), he then worked in the United States and elsewhere, on:
Richard Fleischer's
The Last Run (1971);
Louis Malle's
Black Moon (1975) and
Pretty Baby (1978);
Roman Polanski's
The Tenant (1976);
Jan Troell's
Hurricane (1979);
Bob Rafelson's version of
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981);
Norman Jewison's
Agnes of God (1985);
Woody Allen's
Another Woman (1988),
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and
Celebrity (1998);
Richard Attenborough's
Chaplin (1992);
Nora Ephron's
Sleepless in Seattle (1993); and
Lasse Hallström's ''
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Something to Talk About'' (1995). Nykvist won the
Academy Award for Best Cinematography for two of his films:
Cries and Whispers (1972), and
Fanny and Alexander (1982), both of which were Bergman films. Nykvist said that his favorite cinematography was
Fanny and Alexander. At the
9th Guldbagge Awards in 1973 he won the Special Achievement award for his work on
Cries and Whispers. He was also nominated for a Cinematography Oscar for
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), and in the category of
Best Foreign Language Film for
The Ox (1991), in which he directed
Max von Sydow and
Liv Ullmann. Nykvist won a special prize at the
Cannes Film Festival for his work on
The Sacrifice (1986), the last film directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky, who by then was in exile from his native Russia. He was the first European cinematographer to join the
American Society of Cinematographers, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the ASC in 1996. == Personal life and death ==