Degermark, Pia

Until the age of 10, Pia Degermark lives at home. Then she and her parents and older brother leave for Switzerland, where she studies at a girls' boarding school. When she turns 17, her photograph in a newspaper - in which Pia dances with Crown Prince Carl Gustav - is noticed by the famous Swedish film director Boo Widerberg . Widerberg invites the girl to play a major role in his romantic melodrama Elvira Madigan , which was released in 1967. This first “color” film by B. Wiederberg tells the real story - about the tragic love and death of the famous Danish circus artist Elvira Madigan (1867–1889). Paired with Pia, actor Tommy Bergren acted as a Swedish officer, lover of Elvira Sixten Sparre. The Elvira Madigan film was greeted with interest and benevolent reviews in the press. Thus, the New York Times noted in her article of September 30, 1967, on the game of Pia Degermark: a blonde whose breathtaking delights create an exalted and revered girlish image . The film wins the same year the award of the National Council of Film Critics of the USA for the best film in a foreign language . He was also introduced in 1967 at the Cannes Film Festival , where Pia Degermark was awarded the prize for Best Actress. In 1968, she was nominated for the 25th Golden Globe Award ; in 1969, the British Academy of Motion Picture Award nomination followed.

Following the overwhelming success of the film, Elvira Madigan Pia in Sweden is seen as a possible successor to Ingrid Bergman . In 1969, she, along with Anthony Hopkins and Ralph Richardson , starred in the spy thriller Mirror War directed by Frank Pearson , based on the novel by John Le Carré . Here she plays the role of the subject of dreams of the British agent Christopher Jones, who, according to the plot, is entrusted with obtaining secret photographs of missile bases located in the GDR. In the same year, Pia plays in the film of the Italian director Renato Castellani Una breve stagione . However, her performances in the last two films were less successful than in the debut Elvira Madigan .

In 1971, Pia married the Italian film producer and one of the heirs of the Siemens concern, multimillionaire Pierre Cominnecci, whom she met on the set of the West German horror film Bite only at night (in this film P. Degermark starred). Her marriage, among others, was attended by Prince Carl Gustav and Christina Onassis. This marriage broke up in 1973. The son of Pierre and Pia, Cesare, was later raised by his father.

After the divorce, Pia leaves for the USA. Here she gets sick, suffering from anorexia nervosa and is abusing drugs. In 1976, P. Degermark plays in the West German television series Die Buschspringer , after which he stops working in films. Returning to Sweden in 1979, the actress engages herself to work in an organization that provides assistance to women suffering from malnutrition. In 1991, Degermark was arrested for drug possession and fraud, and then sentenced to 14 months in prison. Soon after the verdict was announced, her second son, Robin, was born to her, who was transferred to foster parents. After his release, P. Degermark is in a serious car accident, as a result of which he receives serious injuries to his right leg. Currently, the actress lives in the Stockholm district of Högersten, her hobby is needlework.

In 2006, P. Degermark published his artistic autobiography “ Gud räknar kvinnors tårar (God Counts Female Tears)”. This book was then translated into a number of European languages.

• 1967: Elvira Madigan
• 1969: War in the Mirror ( Looking Glass War )
• 1969: Una breve stagione
• 1971: Bite only at night ( Gebissen wird nur nachts )
• 1976: Die Buschspringer (television series)

• Pia Degermark: Gud räknar kvinnors tårar: memoarer . Prisma, Stockholm 2006, ISBN 91-518-4665-9 (in Swedish)