Well, he was saddened by the backlash directed at him in the 1990s.
At first it was a bit of a snobbish student joke. “It’s your fault Staffan Westerberg,” read a sign at the Hultsfredsfestivalen - a quote that the School of Economics then printed on t-shirts. In a student poll about who was the worst person in the world, he came out ahead of both Hitler and Stalin.
Then it got worse. People began to seriously claim that his “left-wing” children’s program “Vilse i pannkakan” had ruined their childhoods, there were political attempts to prevent him from playing at Dramaten, and fake sales advertisements were placed in his name.
Of course, I accept that not everyone likes what I do, but that whole period made me very, very sad. I see myself as a kind soul. I just wanted the children well, wanted to entertain them. It led to a drive that felt disproportionate and people really fucked with me, said Staffan Westerberg in an interview with Fönstret 2024.
Revenge for Littlestocking
But Staffan Westerberg got his revenge. When the wind turned, he was met with a wave of love for the iconic characters he created for television: Little Stocking and Big Stocking, Sister Big and Big Potato.
I am a childish old man and I will claim the right to be one with a battle axe to the bitter end. Playing does not have to be superficial; there are also serious games. All of life is a game that ends with death, he himself explained his attitude to life in an interview with SvD in 2014.
Death also marked his childhood. When Staffan Westerberg was five years old, his older brother Lasse was hit by a taxi and died. Their mother never recovered from the loss, and in his autobiography "The Eleven-Year-Old," Westerberg told of how the home was forever silenced.
"I often heard my mother crying in the villa, quiet and controlled on the other side of the wall. Her bedroom was a hall of death, where she could be heard picking at her Gustavian-style secretary. All the decorations were worn out by rheumatism and loneliness."
Built his own theater
His father, the manager, wanted him to become an engineer. But Staffan Westerberg was already more interested in theater as a child. Using cardboard, pieces of wood and flashlights, he created his own theater stage where he performed his performances.
The theater world became a lifeline in many ways. Not least for a boy from Norrbotten who already in the late 1940s understood that he was homosexual, he stated in the interview with Fönstret.
Throughout his career he did much more than “just” children's programs. He was active as a playwright, director, actor and artist, performing at Dramaten and Teater Brunnsgatan 4. Basia Frydman and Kristina Lugn were two of those he worked closely with.
Apology from Gardell
Among those who have paid tribute to Staffan Westerberg are names such as Lars Winnerbäck, the band Amason who did a series of Christmas concerts with him, and Jonas Gardell who apologized for joining the "we hate Staffan Westerberg" bandwagon in the 90s.
"Staffan Westerberg of course ruined no one's childhood. A childhood is ruined by completely different things. It is ruined by terrible parents, by mothers who are super and fathers who fuck you. It is much worse than 'Vilse i pannkakan', I can assure you," Gardell wrote in a column in Aftonbladet .
Born in 1934 in Luleå. When Staffan Westerberg was five years old, his nine-year-old brother was hit by a taxi and died, which marked his entire upbringing.
Trained at Norrköping City Theatre where he also worked between 1956 and 1960. Wrote and created performances for both children and adults – but his greatest impact was achieved by his children's productions for television. "Vilse i pannkakan" (1975), the advent calendar "Lille Luj och Änglaljus i strumpornas hus" (1983) and "Theatern i hatten" (1986).
Among his plays are "The Bleeding Gingerbread Heart" (1994), "Chaplin's Father" (1996) and "Silverpelle - Theatre About a Donkey" (1997).
Collaborated with Kristina Lugn and participated as an actor in her play "Titta en älg" at Teater Brunnsgatan 4 in 1999.
In the 1990s, a debate flared up that Staffan Westerberg had "ruined an entire generation" with his children's programs.
In 2023, he collaborated with the band Amason on a series of Christmas concerts, where Westerberg read a Christmas story he had written. Source: Nationalencyklopedin et al.
