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Per Wahlöö

Per Wahlöö

Writer · Died June 22, 1975, aged 48 · Kungsbacka, Flax Halland, Sweden

Per Fredrik Wahlöö (5 August 1926 – 22 June 1975) – in English translations often identified as Peter Wahloo – was a Swedish author. He is perhaps best known for the collaborative work with his partner Maj Sjöwall on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm, published between 1965 and 1975. In 1971, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den skrattande polisen, originally published in 1968) won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel. Wahlöö and Sjöwall also wrote novels separately.

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Biography from TMDB.

Born
August 5, 1926
Died
June 22, 1975 (aged 48)
From
Kungsbacka, Flax Halland, Sweden
Works as
Writer
Titles
6 on MovieCove · 79 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 39 days to Oct 28Up 62% in 30 days

What are Per Wahlöö's films like?

Across their 5 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Morality and Power.

Themes

share of theme weight
Morality
42%
Power
16%
Survival
12%
Society
11%
Ideas
8%
Self
7%
Bonds
4%
Justice3 titles, browse their movies with this theme

What they feel like to watch

their average across 5 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category
Dark: How heavy the subject matter and outlook get. Browse their dark movies.
Tone · Weight
lightdark

Light 0 · Serious 2 · Dark 3

Stylized: How far its world departs from everyday reality. Browse their stylized movies.
Tone · Style
naturalisticheightened

A split, not a type: Grounded 3 · Stylized 1 · Heightened 1

Charged: How hard the emotional peaks hit while you watch. Browse their charged movies.
Feel · Intensity
gentleintense

Gentle 0 · Charged 3 · Intense 2

Steady: How much it swings between very different feelings. Browse their steady movies.
Feel · Swings
steadyswings

Steady 4 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 1

Some laughs: How much of the runtime is played for laughs. Browse their some laughs movies.
Feel · Humor
noneconstant

Straight-faced 2 · Some laughs 3 · Funny 0

Even-paced: How fast it moves from scene to scene. Browse their even-paced movies.
Demand · Pace
slowrelentless

A split, not a type: Slow burn 3 · Even-paced 1 · Relentless 1

Engaged: How much focus it asks of you — look away and lose the thread? Browse their engaged movies.
Demand · Attention
casualfull focus

Casual 0 · Engaged 5 · Full focus 0

Resolved: How much is left for you to interpret. Browse their resolved movies.
Demand · Resolution
resolvedambiguous

Resolved 4 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 1

Moods and endings

endings are an aggregate; no title is named

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Tense
5
Cold
2
Absurd
2
Thrilling
1
Warm
1

How their films linger

Thought-provoking3 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteCathartic2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteUnsettling2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteBittersweet2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertaste

How their films end · 1 with a twist

  • Happy1
  • Bittersweet3
  • Ambiguous1

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Per Wahlöö's films?

As of October 24, 2026, 2 of their 6 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service.

Also on these channels

Subscription and free streaming for Per Wahlöö's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

79 credits, 6 with a MovieCove page; 1 appearance as themselves is hidden until asked for.

  • Beck 55 – The Wages of Sin (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)

    Characters

  • Beck 54 - In the shadows (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2026)

    Characters

  • Beck 53 - From the Ashes (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)

    Characters

  • Beck 52 - The Invisible Man (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2025)

    Characters

  • Beck 51 - Vilhelm (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2024)

    Characters

  • Beck 50 - Deadlock (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2023)

    Characters

  • Beck 49 - Inferno (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2023)

    Characters

  • Beck 48 - Quid Pro Quo (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2023)

    Characters

  • Beck 47 - The Death Trap (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

    Characters

  • Beck 46 - The Crying Cop (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

    Characters

  • Beck 45 - 58 Minutes (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

    Characters

  • Beck 44 - Rage Room (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

    Characters

  • Beck 43 - Haunted by the Past (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

    Characters

  • Beck - Den förlorade sonen (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

    Characters

  • Beck 41 - Death in Samarra (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2021)

    Characters

  • Beck 40 - Beyond Reasonable Doubt (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2020)

    Characters

  • Beck 39 - Undercover (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2020)

    Characters

  • Beck 38 - The Devil's Advocate (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)

    Characters

  • Beck 37 - Without Intent (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)

    Characters

  • Beck 36 - The Thin Ice (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)

    Characters

  • Beck 35 - Your Own Blood (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2018)

    Characters

  • Beck: The Last Day (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)

    Characters

  • Beck 33 - End of the Road (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)

    Characters

  • Beck 32 - Steinar (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)

    Characters

  • Beck 31 - Gunvald (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2016)

    Characters

  • Beck 30 - The Hospital Murders (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)

    Characters

  • Beck 29 - Invasion (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)

    Characters

  • Beck 28 - The Family (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)

    Characters

  • Beck 27 - Room 302 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2015)

    Characters

  • Beck 26 - Buried Alive (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2010)

    Characters

  • Beck 25 - The Eye of the Storm (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2009)

    Characters

  • Beck 24 - In the Name of God (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)

    Characters

  • Beck 23 - The Silent Scream (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)

    Characters

  • Beck 22 - The Weak Link (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)

    Characters

  • Beck 21 - The Japanese Painting (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)

    Characters

  • Beck 20 - The Lawyer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)

    Characters

  • Beck 19 - The Vulture (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2007)

    Characters

  • Beck 18 - The Girl in the Root Cellar (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)

    Characters

  • Beck 17 - The Scorpion (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2006)

    Characters

  • Beck 16 - The Last Witness (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)

    Characters

  • Beck 15 - The Boy in the Glass Ball (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)

    Characters

  • Beck 14 - The Advertising Man (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)

    Characters

  • Beck 13 - Sender Unknown (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)

    Characters

  • Beck 12 - The Loner (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2002)

    Characters

  • Beck 11 - The Cartel (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)

    Characters

  • Beck 10 - The Man Without a Face (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)

    Characters

  • Beck 09 - The Price of Vengeance (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2001)

    Characters

  • Beck(1997)

    Show 54 episodes · Characters

    Midcredits score: 72nd percentile of all shows

  • Beck 08 - Trails in Darkness (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)

    Characters

  • Beck 07 - The Money Man (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)

    Characters

  • Beck 06 - The Monster (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)

    Characters

  • Beck 05 - The Boarding House Pearl (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)

    Characters

  • Beck 04 - Eye for an Eye (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)

    Characters

  • Beck 03 - White Nights (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1998)

    Characters

  • Beck - The Man with the Icons (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)

    Characters

  • Beck 01 - The Decoy Boy (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1997)

    Characters

  • Stockholm Marathon (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1994)

    Characters

  • The Police Murderer(1994)

    Characters

    Midcredits score: 33rd percentile of all films

  • The Man on the Balcony (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)

    Novel

  • Murder at the Savoy (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)

    Novel

  • Roseanna (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)

    Novel

  • Beck – De gesloten kamer (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)

    Characters

  • The Fire Engine That Disappeared (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1993)

    Novel

  • The Locked Room (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1986)

    Novel

  • Kamikaze 89(1982)

    Novel

    Midcredits score: 45th percentile of all films

  • Murder on the 31st Floor (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1981)

    Adaptation

  • The Man Who Went Up in Smoke (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1980)

    Novel

  • Unfinished Dinner (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1979)

    Show 2 episodes · Novel

  • Black Sun (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1978)

    Writer

  • The Assignment (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1977)

    Novel

  • Man on the Roof(1976)

    Novel

    Midcredits score: 87th percentile of all films

  • The Laughing Policeman(1973)

    Novel

    Midcredits score: 56th percentile of all films

  • 31st Dept. (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1972)

    Novel

  • Roseanna (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1967)

    Novel

  • Mördaren - En helt vanlig person(1967)

    Writer

    Midcredits score: 21st percentile of all films

  • Nightmare (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)

    Screenplay · Screenstory

  • Morianna (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)

    Writer

  • Flygplan saknas (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(1965)

    Writer

  • Beck 56 (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)

    Characters

Career shape

A full career of 79 titles, 77 of them dated from 1965 to 2026.

Biggest box office

Kamikaze 89 (1982)

$22K worldwide

Highest rated

Man on the Roof (1976)

Midcredits 87th

Most popular right now

The Laughing Policeman (1973)

By role

only this rolewith another role
Writing79 of 79: 79 only writing, 0 with another role · typical Midcredits score51st

By decade

1960s5 · crew1970s6 · crew1980s4 · crew1990s16 · crew2000s17 · crew2010s13 · crew2020s16 · crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it. The ring is the typical Midcredits score (the median percentile) of the role's titles that are on MovieCove, shown from 5 scored.

How do Per Wahlöö's films land?

Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 45th percentile, the median of all 5; across their 5 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 51st percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

51stpercentile
Typical film, the median of 5

Approval · how many liked their films

38thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 5

Reach · how many have seen their films

56thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 5

Midcredits score across 6 titles, by percentile

  • 75th and up1
  • 50th to 74th2
  • 25th to 49th2
  • Below 25th1

Shape of the crowd

None of their 6 titles divides audiences: 3 are Crowd Pleasers.

  • Crowd Pleaser3
  • Broadly Agreed1
  • Mixed2

Most loved · writer

Man on the Roof (1976)

Midcredits 87th · 77% liked

Reviewers score the dialogue 51/100 and the plot and story 46/100 in their films, across 5 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a writer.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Who does Per Wahlöö work with?

People who share at least 2 of Per Wahlöö's MovieCove titles; Maj Sjöwall shares the most, 4.