Thank you. We will always remember you!
It was only yesterday when the news announced the death of actor Max Von Sydow at the age of 90. He had been in a lot of movies and TV shows during his life, most of which are the types of roles that would be remembered for a long time. Roles like Jesus Christ in The Greatest Story Ever Told in 1965, Father Lankester Merrin in the Exorcist movies (not just the original that everyone remembers but was in a bunch of the sequels as well), Vigo in the second Ghostbusters movie, Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and a whole lot more!
But it was one of the roles that I best remember him playing, even if it’s a little more obscure.
He played Ming the Merciless in the 1980 film version of Flash Gordon.
Granted. The movie was not the highest end products made and I remember it more for the Queen soundtrack than the movie itself, but still. He played the ultimate villain in it and was the picture of evil in trying to destroy the Earth. Whenever I hear Queen’s main song from that movie I picture him as Ming as Flash Gordon tries to conquer the evil.
To me, while the film wasn’t one of the best made movies, it still hung with me during my life, Queen music or not. The movie came out the year I was born so images from it have lasted longer than I have been alive and being a movie of a hero on another planet trying to make things right is something that has carried during that time and the story itself has lasted for decades beyond the movie itself, before or since. Max Von Sydow played the villain in that and a part that I remember the most.
So no matter what, I salute your spirit and all you did. Hopefully, it was a full life and you got to be a lot of memories for people to remember the work you have done. No matter the role you played, be it either for the movies or for television, you created the memories you will be remembered by for a lot of people for generations to come.
For me, now whenever I hear that song, I will think about Ming and all the evil he tried to bring to Earth and Flash’s effort to stop you.
Thank You, Sir.
Read Cityscape Tokyo to find out how the two teens and their guardians have to survive and watch out for each other when the company’s dark past comes back to haunt the kids and their guardian once again and make for an incredible adventure in Cityscape Tokyo! Now available on the Bull Moose website!
http://www.bullmoose.com/p/24827899/soul-tsukino-cityscape-tokyo
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