Bjorn Andrésen has died at the age of 70

No details about the cause of Bjorn's death have been made public.

Kristian - who directed The Most Beautiful Boy in the World with Kristina Lindstrom - remembered the star as a "brave person".

He added: "Kristina and I had long talked about wanting to make a full-length film about Björn.

"The idea was that he would tell his story himself, and we talked to him for a whole year before we started filming. Then we filmed for several years - and it was both a fun and at times painful shoot."

Bjorn was just 15 when he starred in Italian director Luchino Visconti's Death in Venice, as Tadzio, with whom an older man played by Dirk Bogarde became obsessed.

At the premiere of the film, the director referred to the young star as "the most beautiful boy in the world", a tag which continued to follow Bjorn, much to his unhappiness.

The Midsommar actor - who never spoke with the director again after the movie was released - told The Guardian newspaper in 2003: "I felt like an exotic animal in a cage."

And four years ago, he told the same outlet he would have told the filmmaker to "f*** off" if he was still alive and claimed he "didn't give a f***" about his feelings.

He added: "I've never seen so many fascists and a******* as there are in film and theatre.

"Luchino was the sort of cultural predator who would sacrifice anything or anyone for the work."

He was also an accomplished pianist and musician but lamented the fact he would always be known for Death in Venice, claiming the movie had "screwed [his] life up quite decently".

Bjorn's dad died in an accident when he was young, and his mother took her own life when he was just 10 years old.

He had two children with ex-wife Susanna Roman but their son Elvin tragically died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) when he was just nine months old.

The actor was reportedly lying drunk next to his son when he died, and he then spiralled into deep depression and alcohol abuse.

He is survived by daughter Robine.