Hasse Ekman
Being the son of actor / theatre director Gösta Ekman, it was natural for him to start a career in the movie business. He was first noticed for playing against his father in Intermezzo: Uma História de Amor (1936). He also showed a talent for writing, and his first script was filmed as Blixt och dunder (1938). Producer Lorens Marmstedt gave him the chance to make a successful directing debut with Med dej i mina armar (1940) at the age of 24. During the following years he could mix light comedies with drama. His Kungliga patrasket (1945) was a semi-biographical rendition of the life of an acting family. During the 1940s he kept up a high tempo making movies, with at least two movies every year. When Ingmar Bergman made his debut in the late 1940s, the critics began to compare the two young directors, a comparison who eventually became less and less favorable for Ekman. In 1950 he made the movie that he considered his best, A Mulher com Jacinto (1950). From the middle of the 1950s, his directing and writing became more and more of a routine, more and more predictable, concentrating on light comedies with Sickan Carlsson. After his last movie in 1964 he went over to make revues with Karl Gerhard and Povel Ramel.