Bo Svenson
- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Bo was born in Gothenburg, Sweden to an unwed Jewish mother who was a celebrated big-band leader. His father, the Swedish King’s Aide de Camp, lived three hundred miles away in Stockholm.
His early childhood was somewhat ‘bleak’. His mother’s orchestra work and travel left Bo home alone much of the time. They lived for several years in an apartment right by the Swedish railroad tracks on which Nazi troop trains lumbered past on their way to Nazi-occupied Norway.
Bo was fortunate to be admitted into a high school (not all Swedish high school-age boys were), excelled at sports and was at age 15 ranked as one of Sweden’s top all-around high school athletes - while simultaneously gaining popularity as a cabaret performer.
At 17, he immigrated to the United States to pursue a career as an ice hockey goalie, but after a career-ending knee injury - he shifted paths and joined the U.S. Marines.
After six years of honorable service as a U.S. Marine, during which he earned black belts in judo and aikido, he was paying the rent with acting gigs while in pursuit of a Ph.D in metaphysics. His academic career ended when he was selected to replace Paul Newman and co-star with Robert Redford in "The Great Waldo Pepper", launching his acting career in film and television.
Over the decades, Bo worked with many acting greats, including Lee Marvin, Rod Steiger, Sally Field, and Richard Roundtree, and directed some of the industry’s most respected talents, including Dennis Hopper, David Carradine, Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Rooney, Michael Madsen, and Alexander Skarsgård.
Following "The Great Waldo Pepper", Bo was selected to portray real-life Tennessee lawman Sheriff Buford Pusser - after the still controversial death of Pusser - in what was to become one of his most iconic roles. Fans appreciated Bo’s innate strength and flocked to theaters to see "Chapter 2: Walking Tall" and "Final Chapter: Walking Tall".
After "Walking Tall", Bo starred as Frank Butler in a production of the musical "Annie Get Your Gun" that in three weeks was seen in person by over 300,000 persons, making it the second most successful run ever of that musical.
Bo’s starring film roles included in Enzo G. Castellari’s "Inglorious Bastards" (which spawned Tarantino’s remake that also featured Bo and had Brad Pitt in the role created by Bo), "North Dallas Forty", the hit cult film "Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker", "The Delta Force", "Heartbreak Ridge", and in one of the most talked about TV episodes of all time: Magnum P.I.’s "Did You See the Sunrise?"
While being busy with Hollywood, Bo still took time for sports. He played on the Swedish National Team Old Timers against the NHL All Stars in Madison Square Garden - as well as on the NHL All-Star Celebrity Team against the Bruin All Stars at the Boston Garden, the Chicago Black Hawks All Stars, Winnipeg Jets, and the Minnesota NorthStars. While a defenseman on the NHL All-Stars, Bo played against NHL Hockey Hall of Fame players Bobby Orr, Yvan Cournouyer, Brad Park, Gilles Lupien, Guy Lafleur, Ken Dryden, and other greats.
Bo was a Winston Cup NASCAR driver - and also competed in World Championships in Judo and Yachting.
While working pretty much all-over-the-world, Bo had some ‘interesting' experiences, including on the Roger Corman-financed "Wizard Wars" that was filmed in Argentina the midst of a military revolution, and on the Japanese billionaire Haruki Kadokawa-financed "Virus" when the ship they were on sank in Antarctica on Xmas Eve 1979.
Bo’s celebrity led to meetings with very ‘interesting' men and women: Drug Cartel biggies Sal Magluta and Griselda Blanco in Miami, Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzic in Belgrade days before they caused the civil war that broke up what was then Yugoslavia, a hamburger with President Clinton at the NASCAR track in Charlotte, North Carolina, a most uncomfortable dinner with Pablo Escobar in Cartagena, Columbia, and a brain-stimulating one-on-one afternoon with Henry Kissinger at the InterContinental in Rio de Janeiro.
But no meetings affected Bo’s career like the 3 AM coffee with NBC’s Fred Silverman, during which they confided in each other they didn’t like what they were doing: a few days later, Fred quit NBC and Bo followed suit with his departure from his television series "Walking Tall" - opening the door to Bo’s first love - writing.
With acting on the back-burner, Bo wrote his first novel "The Dream of America" and, inspired by his close friend, the two-time Oscar-winning writer Robert Bolt, Bo wrote the 6-hour television series "Land of Wooden Gods" and had attached as directors, Ingemar Bergman (religion), Akira Kurosawa (violence), and Federico Fellini (‘weirdness').
In the initial meeting with the Maestro in his Cinecitta office, when Fellini asked Bo why he, Fellini, who knew nothing about "di Vikinge", should direct something about them, Bo had replied, "neither does our audience, they will appreciate what you find interesting about them." The project was green-lit by ABC - but was not by the DGA because each episode was to be directed in part by several directors - which was, at the time, a DGA no-no. "Land of Wooden Gods" is now "The Red Cloth".
Bo’s screenplays have over the years won numerous film festival Best Screenplay Awards, including Berlin, Cannes, New York, Toronto, London, Moscow, Paris and Montreal. His screenplay and novel "The Dream of America" was a Amazon Recommended Reads.
Known to audiences for his commanding screen presence and iconic roles in numerous motion pictures and television series, married for sixty years to his Copenhagen-born wife Lise, with whom he has three daughters, Bo has a larger-than-life personae and is a highly respected Man, actor, writer, director and producer.
