DPA

Stockholm, Aug 1: Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman died on Monday at the age of 89, the TT news agency reported here.

The agency, citing his family, said the legendary filmmaker died in his home on the Baltic Sea island of Faro.

Bergman was considered one of the most important directors in 20th century filmmaking.

His top awards included the Golden Palm of Palms at the 50th Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for his body of work. In 1970 he had received Hollywood's coveted Oscar for his lifetime work.

Bergman received another Oscar for his last great movie Fanny And Alexander in 1984.

Born in Uppsala July 14, 1918 as the son of a minister, Bergman had his international breakthrough as film director in 1957 with The Seventh Seal, which won him his first prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

In the sixties, Bergman made headlines with sex scenes that were then considered highly daring. His 1963 film The Silence was banned in many places.

Another milestone of Bergman's career was his 1972 Scenes From A Marriage, released both as a television series and a movie, featuring his former Norwegian partner Liv Ullmann and his compatriot Erland Josephson in the lead roles.

After Fanny And Alexander, Bergman ended his work in film, but continued to work for the Swedish National Theatre Dramaten in Stockholm.

In 2003, he filmed a sequel to Scenes From A Marriage with Ullmann and Josephson entitled Saraband.

Bergman was married five times and made international headlines when he left Sweden in protest in 1976 over a dispute with the tax authorities and settled in Munich.

After the death of his wife Ingrid von Rosen, Bergman lived withdrawn in Faro.