Lars Gunnar Torbjörn Kullänger-Axelman (born 28 April 1932) is a Swedish TV producer, director and writer.

Career

Axelman was born in

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 67,359 inhabitants in 2015, with a total population of 100,092 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality (2014). Eskilstuna has ...

, Sweden, the son of the bookseller Valdemar Axelman and his wife Märtha (née Engström). He passed ''

studentexamen Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university entrance examination in Sweden from the 17th century to 1968. From 1862 to 1968 ...

'' in

Örebro Örebro ( , ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, sixth-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of the Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers in ...

in 1951 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1955 and a Master of Philosophy degree from

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

in 1956. Axelman did TV studies in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1956 and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1961 and 1966. Axelman was a journalist at ''

Nerikes Allehanda ''Nerikes Allehanda'' (shortened ''NA'') is a daily newspaper based in Örebro, Sweden, and distributed across Örebro County. It was founded in 1843 as a weekly paper and became a daily in 1894. The paper is owned by the media group LT Liberala ...

'' and ''Tidningen Upsala'' periodically from 1952 to 1966 and was a producer at

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

and

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

from 1956 to 1985. He produced cultural programs ''Prisma'' from 1958 to 1961 and several programs together with the artist Ardy Strüwer and

Lasse Åberg Lars Gunnar Åberg (born 5 May 1940), known professionally as Lasse Åberg, is a Swedish actor, musician, film director and artist. Between 1960 and 1964 he studied at the Konstfack department of graphic design. Åberg has produced some of the m ...

. Axelman was also a painter and book illustrator and held solo exhibitions in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

in 1953 and 1954,

Visby Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...

in 1983, 1985, 1987–1989,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

1986–1989,

Grythyttan Grythyttan is a urban areas of Sweden, locality situated in Hällefors Municipality, Örebro County, Sweden with 891 inhabitants in 2010. It is located between two lakes, Torrvarpen and Sör-Älgen. It is chiefly known in Sweden for the Grythyttan ...

in 1987,

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

in 1989,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1990 and in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1990. He was also part of joint exhibition, for example at the

Liljevalchs konsthall Liljevalchs konsthall ( Swedish for "Liljevalch's Art Gallery") is an art gallery located on the Djurgården island in Stockholm, Sweden. Designed by architect Carl Bergsten (1879–1935) and inaugurated in March 1916, it is today owned by the Cit ...

in 1961. Axelman was also CEO of AB Stockholms Aero from 1984 and he was a member of the Society Stallbröderna.

Brucebo shooting

Around two o'clock in the afternoon of 1 December 2008, Axelman shot the chairman of the Brucebo Foundation, Joakim Hansson in the back at

Brucebo Brucebo is an artists' estate in Själsö, Väskinde on Gotland, Sweden, created by William Blair Bruce and his wife Carolina Benedicks-Bruce. The estate later became a nature reserve and an art museum managed by the Brucebo Foundation. The Bruce ...

north of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. There had been a dispute between the owner of the house, the Brucebo Foundation, and Torbjörn Axelman, who previously owned the house and now rented a part of it. Axelman had lived in the house for more than 30 years, but now he would be dismissed from his lease. The trigger to the drama was when the foundation's chairman came to get the fixtures in the house. On Monday morning, the chairman of the Brucebo Foundation and an assistant were driving a truck to Brucebo to retrieve paintings, sculptures and other works of art. The intention was that the works would be recorded, cleaned and restored and then returned. A large police force was sent to the scene as well as the

National Task Force The National Task Force ( sv, Nationella insatsstyrkan, ''NI''), formerly known as the National Task Force of the Swedish Civilian Police ( sv, Ordningspolisens nationella insatsstyrka), is a police tactical unit within the National Operations Dep ...

. When Axelman voluntarily came out of the house at ten o'clock in the evening, he was armed and fired shots at the police. The Task Force shot Axelman in the chest and a shot in each thigh. Axelman lost a lot of blood and late at night he was treated for his gunshot wounds which was serious but not life-threatening. Hansson was consulted by the police and treated for gunshot wounds in the back, chest and hand. His general condition was described as non-life-threatening. On 5 February 2009, Axelman was found guilty by the Gotland district Court, of three charges of attempted murder. According to the

Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine The Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine ( sv, Rättsmedicinalverket, abbreviated RMV) is a Swedish government agency organized under the Ministry of Justice, responsible for forensic psychiatry, forensic chemistry, forensic medicine and ...

, Axelman suffered from a severe mental disorder and in need of psychiatric treatment, and that there was a risk that he would commit further offenses. The district court's sentence was established by the

Svea Court of Appeal Svea Court of Appeal ( sv, Svea hovrätt), located in Stockholm, is one of six appellate courts in the Swedish legal system. It is located in the Wrangel Palace, on Riddarholmen islet in Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm. History The Svea Co ...

on 10 June 2010. In April 2012, Uppsala Administrative Court decided that Axelman would be released.

Filmography

Axelman's filmography:

Director

*''Flygnivå 450'' (1980) *''Fata Morgana'' (1979) *''Må vårt hus förskonas från tigrar'' (1975) *''Sanningens ögonblick'' (1974) *''Smoke'' (1971) *''Tagning Ljusår'' *''Amiralsskeppet Rikswasa'' (1969) *''Gotlandsturisten'' (1969) *''Kameleonterna'' (1969) *''Het snö'' (1968) *''Lejonsommar'' (1968) *''Kanariehunden'' (1967) *''Oj oj oj eller Sången om den eldröda hummern'' (1966) *''Oidentifierad Huset''

Screenplay

*''Flygnivå 450'' (1980) *''Må vårt hus förskonas från tigrar'' (1975) *''Sanningens ögonblick'' (1974) *''Smoke'' (1971) *''Kameleonterna'' (1969) *''Het snö'' (1968) *''Lejonsommar'' (1968) *''Oj oj oj eller Sången om den eldröda hummern'' (1966)

Idea

*''Oj oj oj eller Sången om den eldröda hummern'' (1966)

Producer

*''Oidentifierad Medeltid'' (1991) *''Må vårt hus förskonas från tigrar'' (1975) *''Smoke'' (1971) *''Het snö'' (1968)

Production manager

*''Lejonsommar'' (1968)

Music

*''Smoke'' (1971)

Roles

*''Må vårt hus förskonas från tigrar'' (1975) *''Lejonsommar'' (1968) *''Oj oj oj eller Sången om den eldröda hummern'' (1966)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Axelman, Torbjorn 1932 births Living people Swedish film directors Swedish television producers Swedish screenwriters Swedish male actors Swedish writers Swedish poets Swedish journalists People from Eskilstuna Uppsala University alumni 20th-century Swedish people