- Born
- Birth nameBo Ragnar Svensson
- Height1.96 m
- A multi-award-winning writer and actor, Bo Svenson was born in Sweden - the only child of a Jewish, Russian-born big band leader mother and a father who was the Swedish King's personal driver and aide-de-camp. At 17, he emigrated by himself to the US. After serving six years as a US Marine, he was pursuing a Ph.D. in MetaPhysics and paying the rent with odd acting gigs when he was hired to replace Paul Newman as Robert Redford's co-star in "The Great Waldo Pepper".
This led to a starring role in the CBS TV pilot "The Freebooters" - and his being cast as "Big Swede" on the TV series "Here Come the Brides".
His role as "The Creature" in the 3-hour TV movie "Mary Shelley's Original Frankenstein" brought him great acclaim - and was soon followed by other major starring film roles, including, but most notably, as: Sheriff Buford Pusser in "Walking Tall Part II", "Final Chapter: Walking Tall" and the "Walking Tall" TV series, as the fun-loving offensive lineman Joe Bob Priddy in "North Dallas Forty", as the heroic airline pilot in "The Delta Force", and as Clint Eastwood's rival in "Heartbreak Ridge".
During his fifty years in Hollywood, he has worked with over 100 Academy Award winners/nominees. Since appearing in Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" and "Inglourious Basterds" (the latter being Tarantino's version of one of his favorite films of all time, "The Inglorious Bastards" in which Bo starred), Bo has focused on his first love - writing. His screenplays have won and/or been selected more than thirty times by major film festivals.
An accomplished athlete, he has competed in world championships in judo and in Olympic selections in yachting. A 5th degree black belt in judo and a black belt holder in karate as well as aikido, he is past Chairman of USA Judo Masters and has been inducted into the Martial Arts Masters Hall of Fame. He is active in community service causes and was Sports Commissioner at the 2015 Special Olympics World Games at his Alma Mater UCLA.
Since 1975, he has been President/CEO of MagicQuest Entertainment, a California motion picture development and production company that also provides consulting services to actors and script advice to writers.
He is also owner and CEO of the British Columbia film and television production company, CanAm Film Corp., and the Norwegian corporation, Den Norske Arv A/S. He was Chairman of the Board/CEO of Motion Picture Group of America (1984-2004).- IMDb mini biography by: Val Verse
- SpouseLise Hartmann-Berg(December 30, 1966 - present) (3 children)
- ChildrenPia SvensonMaya SvensonMia Svenson
- ParentsLola SvenssonBirger Ragnar Svenson
- Gender / Gender identityMale
- Towering height and strong frame.
- Ph.D. candidate in Meta-Physics at UCLA 1970-1974.
- A 5th degree black belt in judo and other martial arts, he was inducted into the Martial Arts Masters Hall of Fame on August 8, 2009.
- He was television's highest-paid actor for his reprisal of Buford Pusser in the television series Justice sauvage (1981). Only Johnny Carson was making more than he was at the time.
- U.S. Armed Forces Far East Heavyweight Division Judo Champion (1961).
- Won silver in the 2009 USA Judo National Championships despite three broken ribs suffered days earlier.
- You know, I never paid much attention to who was the lead, who was the second banana, where was I -- was I the fifth banana? -- whatever. I had a zest for life. And I was rather impractical about my career. I was never career oriented. I was more life oriented. So I didn't really care about billing and stuff.
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