Ingmar Bergman's Favourite Authors

Bergman on Strindberg:

"The first time I came in contact with Strindberg, I was twelve. It was an enormous experience, and I believe my first plays... I quite simply copied Strindberg. I tried to write like him, dialogues, scenes, everything. Beyond all comparison Strindberg was my idol. His vitality, his anger, I felt it inside me. And I believe I wrote quite a few Strindberg-inspired plays."

Hjalmar and Ingmar were not relatives; Bergman is a common family name in Sweden.

Ingmar's first TV adaptation Mr. Sleeman Is Coming was based upon a Hjalmar's play.