Royal Dramatic Training Academy

The quality of the drama school was considered to be one of Europe's greatest (equivalent to British RADA) [citation needed] and up until 1964 it still featured traditional fencing, ballet-training, plastik (plastique; body movement and posture on stage), recital- and voice-training (following the same instructions since 1819) and teachings of skilled masking techniques - everything much the same since the 18th Century.

The old education and teaching methods were questioned, and it was soon decided by the Swedish government that the school was to be separated from the Royal Dramatic Theatre (aka Dramaten) and become independent.

It was the then-managing director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, Ingmar Bergman, who in 1964 initiated the final decision of separation (mostly because he was frustrated that the increasing number of students required more room and deserved more attention than he felt Dramaten could upbring at the time).

However, he later came to regret this decision, bitterly calling it (in a late 1990s interview) "the most stupid thing I've done in my entire life" as he later felt that the long inherited theatre tradition was completely lost within the Dramaten building.

Famous students at the Royal Dramatic Training Academy include: Signe Hasso, Greta Garbo, Gunnar Björnstrand, Ingrid Bergman, Max von Sydow, Stellan Skarsgård, Jan Malmsjö, Nils Asther, Gunn Wållgren, Inga Tidblad, Börje Ahlstedt, Bibi Andersson, Eva Dahlbeck, Ingrid Thulin, Stig Järrel, Gerda Lundequist and Lars Hanson, a.o (including most of the later so called "Ingmar Bergman-actors").