Petter Aron Lindström (1907 - 2000)

Born 1 Mar 1907 in Stöde, Sweden

Ancestors

Husband of Ingrid Bergman — married 10 Jul 1937 (to about Feb 1950) in Stode, Sweden

Husband of Agnes (Rovnanek) Lindstrom — married Sep 1954 in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States

Died 24 May 2000 at age 93 in Sonoma, California, United States

Profile manager: Scott Fulkerson [send private message]

Biography

Petter Lindström lived in Sweden.

Petter Aron Lindström was born on 1 March 1907 in Stöde, Sweden to his parents, Alfred Lindström and Brita Lisa Söderberg. He became a dentist, studying in Heidelberg, Stockholm and Leipzig, where he received a doctorate in dental surgery in 1931. He went into private practice in Stockholm and held an associate professorship at the Karolinska Institute there.

He met and married actress Ingrid Bergman in 1937. She was 21 and he was 30 at the time. They had one child together, a daughter named Friedel Pia Lindström, on 20 September 1938. Initially, Petter and Pia remained in Sweden while Ingrid traveled to the United States to star in Hollywood productions. However, by 1940 he and Pia moved to Rochester, New York while Ingrid pursued roles on Broadway and later in Hollywood. Petter Lindstrom received a medical degree from the University of Rochester in 1943, then joined Ingrid in California, where he completed three years of residency in neurosurgery at Los Angeles County Hospital in 1947. He went into private practice in his specialty of neurosurgery and also held teaching and clinical appointments at the University of Southern California and the University of California at Los Angeles. In 1949 he became chief of neurosurgery at Los Angeles County Harbor Hospital by 1949.

He was known to be the head of the family according to articles concerning his life with Ingrid, and while her visits would last days or sometimes months, she would then leave for periods of time to follow her career in acting. When she returned to Hollywood, Petter and Pia followed, moving to San Francisco where Petter did his internship in neurosurgery at a private hospital there.

Their lives together and apart began to wear on their relationship. She had at least one affair with Gregory Peck during one of their films together, and Ingrid had a scandalous affair with Italian director Roberto Rossellini and became pregnant with his child. She gave birth to Roberto Ingmar Rossellini on 2 February 1950, and a week later divorced Petter. Petter sued for desertion and this began an ugly custody battle over Pia that would not end until 1957 when Pia was a young adult.

After the end of his marriage, Dr. Lindstrom moved east to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where in 1952 he became chief of neurosurgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital. He continued his research at the University of Pittsburgh. From 1955 to 1964 he was chief of neurosurgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City and, as of 1961, a full professor of neurosurgery at the University of Utah. In Pittsburgh and Utah that he pioneered an ultrasound surgical methods that became known as bloodless brain surgery.

He returned to California in 1964 and had academic and hospital appointments in San Francisco and San Diego. He retired as a clinical professor from the University of California at San Diego in 1987, and from private practice in 1988.

He remarried in 1954^[1] and had four children with his second wife, Dr. Agnes (Rovnanek) Lindstrom, a pediatrician.

He passed away on 24 May 2000 in Sonoma, California.

Sources

1. ↑ Milestones, Sep. 20, 1954, Time magazine, Sept. 20, 1954.

• Saxon, Wolfgang. Petter Lindstrom, 93, Surgeon and Bergman's Spouse in '50 Scandal, New York Times, June 9, 2000.

• Wikipedia:Ingrid Bergman

• Wikipedia: Pia Lindström

• http://www.geni.com/people/Aron-Petter-Lindstr%C3%B6m/6000000008538921157

• The Hollywood Book of Break-Ups, pages 56-57

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