If you’ve watched any of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s early movies then you have probably seen Sven-Ole Thorsen, since the guy has been one of Arnold’s longest collaborators and has been acting and performing stunts for years. He retired from acting in 2011 and is currently in his 70s, but in his heyday, Thorsen was one of the big guys on the set with Arnold and he did take on other roles as well throughout his career. Let’s be fair and say that the guy isn’t the best actor since he has a very set number of different looks, but when the situation calls for some hulking, intimidating individual that can just stand there and look as though he’ll take a person apart with his bare hands, Thorsen is the kind of guy that was perfect for the role quite often. He stands at 6’4″, so he’s not the biggest guy that Arnold ever worked with, but the main reason he’s recognizable and even known is the fact that he took part in so many of Arnold’s movies. From Conan the Barbarian to The Running Man to Twins, he had some part in several movies that allowed him to make some kind of impression. He’s worked with a couple of other action stars in his time, but it’s definitely easier to remember him from the old action movies since he was actually given a fairly prominent role in Conan the Barbarian.
As Thorgrim he was a follower of Thulsa Doom, played by James Earl Jones, and was a pretty sadistic individual that wielded a massive wooden mallet. The character was strong enough to take Conan one on one, but it’s kind of obvious he wasn’t the brightest character since he was taken in by a trap that Conan set during the final battle, and upon striking a helmet that was hidden behind a rock he was impaled by a clever trap that Conan had set. He did get a part in Conan the Destroyer as well, but he remained masked for it, which is fortunate but still kind of obvious. Funny enough, ended up hooking up with Grace Jones after a while and stuck with her for a time. The thing about Thorsen’s career though is that while it’s impressive enough to notice and has stretched on for years, he’s basically a placeholder. Granted, he’s a big guy and he carried a lot of threat with his impressive frame, but he was rarely ever given that many lines and was seen as kind of a bit-player a lot of times, someone that was there because a big body was needed.
He played another role in The Running Man as the security guard, Sven, and seeing him stand next to Arnold it was kind of clear that the two had a pretty noticeable size difference. But the thing about the role in The Running Man was that he was definitely used just for his size since his boss, Killian, made it clear what he thought of him and even mocked him up until the last, when Sven got to turn it back on him and walk away rather than confront Arnold’s character. So to be fair, he’s been able to turn that size advantage into something funny and even positive. He’s even been seen in Lethal Weapon 1 and 3 as one of the hired goons, but by that time it was obvious he was starting to get bit old, as more grey had crept into his hair and the lines in his face were more pronounced. It was even more advanced in Hard Target with Jean Claude Van Damme, who put Thorsen’s character down by emptying a clip into him and then booting him right in the face, knocking the cigar right out of his mouth. Another interesting role came with Russell Crowe when Thorsen started as Tigris of Gaul in Gladiator, the big man that was supposed to put Maximus down. In terms of fight scenes this one was pretty impressive, and it helped to make the point that despite getting old that he could still fill a needed role. It was kind of obvious at that time though that Thorsen was starting to get up there in years, as the massive physique he had as a younger man was starting to change, as it tends to do after a while.
One role it might have been best to see him leave on hte table was as the Swede in The Quick and the Dead, which was about as campy as one can get for a western without making a comedy. But throughout all his roles Thorsen has been easy to recognize since he made quite the career for himself. His is a name that’s good to remember since as an actor and a stuntman he’s been one of the more reliable supporting men over the years.
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