RIP Åke Lindman

Åke Leonard Lindman (born Åke Leonard Järvinen; January 11, 1928 - March 3, 2009) was a Finnish director and actor.

In his youth Lindman was a professional football player, playing in the defence for the Finnish national football team during the Olympics in Helsinki 1952. He represented the football club HIFK in the Finnish league. In the 1960s, the British Premier League club Swindon Town F.C. wanted to sign him, but he said no and turned to his acting career.

Åke Lindman's breakthrough as an actor came with the role of the stubborn soldier Lehto in Edvin Laine's movie The Unknown Soldier from 1955. Later he would also regain fame as captain Torsten Jansson in the Swedish soap opera Rederiet. Lindman has also been successful as a director, e.g. with the TV-series Stormskärs Maja and the movie Framom främsta linjen, a movie about the Finland-Swedish infantry regiment 61 during the defence of the Karelian Isthmus in 1944. His latest movie is war movie Tali-Ihantala 1944.

Ake Lindman appeared in two 1963 Finnish westerns Gold of the Wild North and The Secret Valley of the Wild North.