Henning Mankell was born on February 3, 1948 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He is a writer and actor, known for Wallander (2005), Sidetracked (2001) and The Return of the Dancing Master (2004). He has been married to Eva Bergman since 1998.
I wanted to show how difficult it is to be a good police officer. But after, I think, the third novel, I spoke to this friend of mine and asked what sort of disease I could give [Wallender]. Without hesitating, she said: "Diabetes!". So I gave him diabetes and that made him more popular. I mean, you could never imagine James Bond giving himself a shot of insulin, but with Wallander it seemed perfectly natural.
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Fact
1
He wrote dozens of plays, novels, children's books, and screenplays. He is best-known for his Wallander series, which sold more than 40 million books. The gloomy detective got his name when Mankell ran his finger through a telephone directory.
2
At age 20, he wrote his first play, "The Amusement Park", about Swedish colonialism in 19th Century South America. His first novel, The Stone-Blaster, soon followed.
3
He said that Macbeth was the best crime story he had ever read.
4
He left school at 16 to join the merchant navy, and became a stevedore on a Swedish ship carrying coal and iron ore. Two years later, he moved to Paris, barely scraping by, but thriving on the student activism and political debates. After a year and a half, he returned to Stockholm to work as a stagehand.
5
He is the grandson of composer Henning Mankell (1868-1930).
6
Was on board one of the ships in the Gaza aid flotilla which Israeli commandos attacked on 31 May 2010 early morning.
7
Member of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in 2009.
$1.1 Million