Max von Sydow, the self-described "shy boy"-turned-actor known to art house audiences through his work with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and later to moviegoers everywhere when he played the priest in the horror classic "The Exorcist," has died. He was 90.

His agent Jean Diamond said Monday that the actor, who was born in Sweden but became a French citizen in 2002, died the previous day in France.

"It is with a broken heart and with infinite sadness that we have the extreme pain of announcing the departure of Max von Sydow," Diamond said.

Von Sydow married Swedish actress Christina Olin in 1951 and had two sons, Clas and Henrik. The couple later divorced and he married French filmmaker Catherine Brelet in 1997, with whom he had two more sons, Yvan and Cedric.

Von Sydow was born April 10, 1929, into a family of academics in the southern Swedish city of Lund. He was baptized Carl Adolf von Sydow, but later changed his first name to Max, saying his given name was "not a good name" after World War II.

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#RIP to the legendary #MaxVonSydow who passed away at 90 years old. The Oscar-nominated actor starred in dozens of films & TV, from #TheExorcist to #StarWars: The Force Awakens, and #GameofThones. He will be missed.

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From his 1949 screen debut in the Swedish film "Only a Mother," von Sydow starred in close to 200 film and TV productions, remaining active well into his 80s. He received two Academy Award nominations - for best actor in 1988 for his gripping portrayal of an impoverished farmer in "Pelle the Conqueror," and best supporting actor in 2012 for his role as a mute in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close." More recently, he received an Emmy nomination for his work as the Three-Eyed Raven in HBO's "Game of Thrones."