(10 July 192322 June 2012) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

historian and popular TV and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

personality. Villius received his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in history in 1951 with his dissertation ''Karl XII:s ryska fälttåg: Källstudier'' (" Charles XII's Russian campaign: A Source Study.") in which he critically analysed the narrative sources of Charles XII's officers during the campaign. In 1957 Villius joined Swedish Radiotjänst (now Sveriges Radio), Sweden's national public radio corporation, and began making popular historical documentaries and programming until he moved to Sveriges Television (SVT) in 1966. It was at SVT that Villius began working with TV-producer Olle Häger, a very productive collaboration that would span some two decades. During the 1980s and 1990s, Häger and Villius produced several popular documentaries like ''Fyra dagar som skakade Sverige'' ("Four days that shook Sweden") in 1988 about the Swedish " Midsummer crisis" during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and ''Raoul Wallenberg - fånge i Sovjet'' ("

Raoul Wallenberg Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg (4 August 1912 – disappeared 17 January 1945)He is presumed to have died in 1947, although the circumstances of his death are not clear and this date has been disputed. Some reports claim he was alive years later. 31 J ...

- prisoner in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

.") as well as one of SVT's biggest and most popular documentary productions ever, ''Hundra Svenska År'' ("One Hundred Swedish years"), consisting of eight one-hour documentaries on the history of Sweden during the 20th century from many different perspectives. Other than his dedication to entertaining and educating, Villius was most famous for his narrating both his own and others' documentaries, and his soft

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

-accent is instantly recognizable to millions of Swedes (even to those who do not know his name). He also played the Minister of Justice in

Bo Widerberg Bo Gunnar Widerberg (; 8 June 1930 – 1 May 1997) was a Swedish film director, writer, editor and actor. Biography Early life Widerberg was born in Malmö, Malmöhus County, Sweden. Career Widerberg was the director of films such as ''Rave ...

's thriller ''

The Man from Majorca ''The Man from Majorca'' ( sv, Mannen från Mallorca) is a 1984 Swedish crime thriller film directed by Bo Widerberg. It is based on the novel ''The Pig Party'' by Leif G. W. Persson. The film stars Sven Wollter and Tomas von Brömssen. The nove ...

'' (1984). His voice has almost become a concept of its own, intimately associated with serious educational programming and spawning many parodies (e.g., in TV-commercials) and imitations among comedians.

Bibliography

* Karl XII:s ryska fälttåg : källstudier (1951) * Glimtar från det gamla Malm (1955) * Kassettbrevens gåta : Maria Stuart och mordet på * Darnley (1956) * Makten, äran och helvetet : ögonblicksbilder ur modern och äldre historia (1959) * Rättegångar som skakat världen (1961) * Ryktbara rättegångar (1962) * Åsyna vittne : ögonvittnen berättar om dramatiska händelser i historien (1990) * Sex dagböcker från fem sekler (1992) * Åsyna vittne 2 : ögonvittnen berättar om den första månlandningen och andra dramatiska händelser i historien (1995) with Olle Häger * Det bortförlovade landet : krig och kris i Mellanöstern (1970) * Stalin : porträtt av en diktator (1970) * Rebellernas rike : Cuba och Castros revolution (1970) * Högt spel i tändstickor : Ivar Kreuger och hans värld (1970) * Solen går upp i väst: vätebombens historia (1970) * Skotten i Dallas : mordet på president Kennedy (1971) * Brännpunkt Prag : Tjeckoslovakiens dramatiska historia 1918-1968 (1971) * Nu är det snart slut på hela härligheten : ryska revolutionen (1971) * Ett spel om en väg som till himla bar : raketforskningens historia (1971) * In i det kalla kriget : Sverige mellan stormakterna 1946-1952 (1971) * Rök : gåtornas sten (1976) * Ett satans år : Norrland 1867 (1978) * 1000 år : en svensk historia (1980) * Svart på vitt (1990) with Elsa Villius * You, the jury : a trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, for complicity in the murder of her husband, Lord Darnley (1962) * Fallet Raoul Wallenberg (1966)

Discography

* Det mest formidabla klot jag någonsin skådat (1996) * Skrivet i lönndom (1999) * Svart gryning (2000)

References

External links

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villius, Hans 1923 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Swedish historians Swedish television personalities People from Lund Raoul Wallenberg Deaths from diabetes