Mark Levengood in his proper habitat – host of a gala.
Photo: Janne Danielsson / SVT
Mark Levengood at Kristallen.
Foto: STELLA PICTURES / STELLA PICTURES CHARLOTTE BRUNZELL
Astrid Lindgren gave the profile a piece of advice.
Photo: JACOB FORSELL
Astrid Lindgren.
Photo: Bertil Ericson / TT / / TT NEWS AGENCY
Autumn has started for Mark Levengood, 60. He has a seven-week summer holiday behind him, which was spent planting trees, pruning bushes and mowing the lawn, something he himself describes as “absolutely fantastic”. When Expressen questions the legality of being off for seven weeks, he briefly replies that “you need it”, before elaborating:
– You have to consider that the television industry, the seasons are very long, other people are off at the weekend – we are not. The Christmas shows run until Christmas Eve and then it starts again on the fifth of January.
– I was a permanent employee at SVT for five years when I was manager there, so those were my worst years. In January, they wanted to know when I wanted to go on vacation – hell, I know. I don’t know, maybe I’m dead this summer? I don’t know. Now I decide for myself and it’s great.
THE ARTICLE IN BRIEF
Mark Levengood once again leads the “Children of the World” gala and reflects in an interview with Expressen on his career, aging and his private life.
He shares thoughts on turning 60 and how life feels after the separation from Jonas Gardell. He also talks about his television career.
Levengood reveals how he enjoys his free working life and also shares an anecdote about a beer evening with Astrid Lindgren.
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Together with Cattis Ahlström, this autumn he is hunting heirs around the world for SVT’s “Arvinge okänd” and a little further on there will be Christmas shows. And so the gala season has also begun. Earlier this week, Mark Levengood hosted the Heart and Lung Foundation’s “Heart of the Year”, and on Saturday it’s time for the “Children of the World” gala.
The feeling is that when there are galas of this kind, it often seems that you are the one who leads them in the end. Why do you think that is so?
– I’m like some kind of media cockroach. Disasters come and go and then I come crawling up and just “Hey, today we’re going to get together…”, laughs Levengood.
– Galas require quite a lot of technical knowledge. There are eight cameras and you have to know which camera is in charge at all times, and in live broadcasts you also have to move the plot forward.
Why do you think you are such a good fit for it?
– Don’t you think one will be type castad? I think. I just know that when I started in television, I wanted to do talk showsand it went so well that I had to do it talk show on talk show although I wanted to do children’s programs, but that was it talk show. Then I managed to get myself to do a children’s program, and after that it was just children’s programs. They look for easy ways, I think you easily end up in a compartment.
– I guess it’s still a waste of all that.
Mark Levengood in a gold floral dress at the Unicef gala 2019.
Photo: KARIN TÖRNBLOM / IBL
The topics the galas are built around are close to Levengood’s heart, who has been a Unicefambassador “for ages and ages”.
– These are questions that make a lot of sense in my life.
– I have been to Gaza, I have met children there and visited hospitals. Now you see that it has been bombed to pieces and you think: “Where did the children go?” There is a lot of worry in times like this, then it feels so good to get out and do “Children of the World”.
The girl against the television industry
With 44 years in the television business, Mark Levengood has more experience than most. Today, he can look back on his early years, sigh and note that some things were better in the past.
– Television was quite new then, it was still a pioneering time and I think that we who work today have an obligation to explore what can be done with television, to check where the boundaries are. I have never been as proud as when SVT launched “Robinson”, it became a completely new type of television that no one had seen before. Then a whole genre was created.
You don’t do that today, you mean?
– There is so much you can still do and explore. I can get a little annoyed with the Swedish television landscape, they imitate each other. Someone makes a good program and then everyone else tries to make the same program. It’s super boring.
What would be needed?
– A little less anxiety. For television to be good, there must be desire. Lust, lust lust, curiosity and creativity.
Mark Levengood, Nikki Amini and Ahmed Berhan are hosting the gala on Saturday.
Photo: Jan Danielsson / SVT
For his own part, the last few years have meant a series of major changes in Mark Levengood’s life. This summer he turned 60 and celebrated with a big party in central Stockholm – on a Monday.
– If you think about my industry, when are we free? We are free on Mondays because we work on weekends.
– It was a wonderful, wonderful party. I was so happy about it. Everyone was there, almost everyone, says Levengood.
What else is it like to be 60?
– Turning 60 is a bit brutal. I remember getting lots of presents, it was great fun, but there were lots of cards. There were so many flowers and it said 60 in gold letters. I’ve seen that damn card all my life, but always kind of associated it with people who are so old that you don’t need to buy a gift for them to die soon anyway. And now it’s my turn?!
– It probably took a while to digest it. At the same time, I’m thinking: Everyone says that 60 is the new 40. That’s bullshit, I’ve already been 40, should I be 40 again? You can assume that every time in life has something new to offer. I’m trying to explore 60 and find what it’s all about. But so far it’s a pretty comfortable age, being 60 is unexpectedly fun.
You sound cautiously positive.
– I am skeptically curious, if you have to sum it up. When mom turned 60, my brother had a grandchild at the same time, so I called mom and said she was a great-grandmother. “Get in your pussy,” she replied.
– We don’t seem to have a tradition of aging particularly dignified.
The former spouses are still good friends. In September, they went together at the Grand Hotel’s 150th anniversary celebration.
Photo: KARIN TÖRNBLOM / IBL
Last year, he and life partner Jonas Gardell went their separate ways after over 35 years as a couple.
What is your civil status today?
– You know how secretive I am. I see myself as divorced, people keep nagging me about being single, but to me being single is actively looking. I’m not on any apps or anything, and you never know what happens in life, but right now I’m pretty content.
– I once drank beer with Astrid Lindgren, we had been to a gig in the Globe and I drove her home, and then I asked her how it felt to be a living legend. She looked at me and said, “Well, you should know how hard it is for us living legends to ever get us a glass of beer.” “Do you want to drink beer?” I asked. “Thank you.”
– We ended up at Valonen, which all Finns call “Vallonen”, and I asked her: “You became a widow when you were 50, why did you never remarry?”
– She snorted: “I say like the tiger, ‘you must have been married’.” And that’s a bit where I find myself, laughs Levengood.
