Nils Bengt Folke Ekerot was a Swedish actor and director He had several important roles in Swedish films but he became immortalized in 1957 when he starred in Ingmar Bergmans The Seventh Seal portraying Death as a whitefaced man in a black cloak an archetype that has influenced the representation of Death in countless instances in film and other media since then All in all Bengt Ekerot appeared in 35 feature films and directed 7 from 1940 to 1968 He was wrestled with the conditions of his hunger He cried over his violent appetite The demons destroyed his beauty Erland Josephson on Bengt Ekerot in The RoleBook 1989