Character lead of the Swedish stage and screen, notable for his portraits of egotistical males in the films of Ingmar Bergman. He became associated with Bergman while still in his teens and became his lifelong friend. He replaced the director in 1966 as head of Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre, a position he held through 1975. Josephson directed and performed in scores of plays and appeared in numerous films in Sweden and abroad. He made his American stage debut in a 1988 production of The Cherry Orchard. He is the author of published poems, six novels, and several plays and screenplays.