Bo Widerberg; Renowned Swedish Director

Bo Widerberg, a leading figure in Swedish cinema who directed the acclaimed 1967 movie “Elvira Madigan” and three Academy Award-nominated films, died Thursday at age 66.

Widerberg died in a hospital in Angelholm in southern Sweden of an unspecified long illness, the Swedish news agency TT said.

He is best known for “Elvira Madigan,” about the tragic romance between a young Danish tightrope walker and a Swedish lieutenant. The movie was popular for its passion and for its use of classical music, including Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21--which became known as the “Elvira Madigan.”

Widerberg’s most recent Oscar nomination was in 1996 for “All Things Fair” as best foreign film. The movie recounts an intense relationship between a 15-year-old high school student--played by Widerberg’s son Johan--and his 37-year-old female teacher.

The director’s previous Oscar nominations, also for best foreign film, were in 1964 for “Raven’s End” and in 1969 for “Adalen 31.”

“Raven’s End,” about the poor quarter of a Swedish city in the 1930s, was named the best Swedish movie ever made in a poll two years ago by a Stockholm arts publication.

“Adalen 31” is based on labor strife in 1931, when five people died after police opened fire on a workers march.

“Art is a way of defending yourself, not to let life slip past without comment,” Widerberg once told the Swedish film magazine Chaplin. “You highlight what is desirable: love, a good piece of cheese on a clean tablecloth, pears and red wine under an oak tree.”

Widerberg’s sharp realism put him at odds with Sweden’s film titan Ingmar Bergman. In a 1962 essay, he challenged Bergman’s choice of themes, saying there were more important questions to explore than the existence of God.

Widerberg began his artistic career as a novelist, then branched into film in 1963 with “The Baby Carriage.”