Udo Kier, the German actor recognized for his eclectic physique of labor that included many horror motion pictures and collaborations with filmmakers Gus Van Sant, Lars von Trier and Wim Wenders, has died. He was 81.
Kier died Sunday at Eisenhower Well being hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, his pal of 60 years, photographer Michael Childers, introduced.
The magnetic Kier amassed greater than 280 movie and TV roles throughout his profession, based on IMDb, as he moved amongst artwork home movies, options directed by European auteurs and Hollywood blockbusters over seven a long time.
He partnered with filmmaker and countryman Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a onetime lover, for the movies The Third Technology (1979), Lili Marllen (1981) and Lola (1981) and for the acclaimed 14-part 1980 miniseries Berlin Alexanderplatz.
Extra just lately, he appeared in Alexander Payne’s Downsizing (2017), starred as a retired hairdresser in Todd Stephens’ Swan Tune (2021) and confirmed up as a Jewish tailor in Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Oscar hopeful The Secret Agent (2025).
For Van Sant, who introduced him to America and obtained him into SAG, Kier portrayed the benefactor Hans alongside Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix in My Personal Personal Idaho (1991), then reunited with the American director for Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) and Don’t Fear, He Received’t Get Far on Foot (2018).
Kier and the Danish von Trier labored collectively on movies together with Europa (1991), Breaking the Waves (1996), the Palme d’Or winner Dancer within the Darkish (2000), Dogville (2003), Manderlay (2005) and Melancholia (2011) and on the horror miniseries The Kingdom.
And for the German-born Wenders, he appeared in A Trick of the Mild (1995) and The Finish of Violence (1997).
Udo Kierspe was born in Cologne on Oct. 14, 1944. After he and his mom, a seamstress, survived when the hospital they had been in was bombed, he grew up in poverty with out his father. He moved to London at age 18 and discovered English, then made his appearing debut within the 1966 quick movie Highway to Saint Tropez.
After co-starring with Herbert Lom within the horror movie Mark of the Satan (1970) — he had began out as an on-set assistant on that — Kier met Paul Morrissey on a aircraft, and the Andy Warhol common forged him as Baron Frankenstein in Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and as a virgins-lusting Rely Dracula in Blood for Dracula (1974).
“I starved myself and solely ate leaves and drank water,” Kier as soon as stated of his crash weight loss plan for the latter function. “At first [of the shoot], I sat in a wheelchair as a result of I didn’t have any energy.”
He adopted with turns in Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977), Miklos Jancsó’s Hungarian Rhapsody (1979) and Fassbinder’s trilogy nearer Lola.
Kier’s big-screen résumé included For Love or Cash (1993); Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994); Johnny Mnemonic (1995); Barb Wire (1996); The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996) and its 1999 sequel; Armageddon (1998); Blade (1998); Finish of Days (1999); Lords of Salem (2012); and The Forbidden Room (2015).
He was photographed for Madonna’s 1992 espresso desk guide, Intercourse, after which confirmed up in her music video for “Deeper and Deeper.” He additionally was in music movies for Eve and Gwen Stefani (“Let Me Blow Ya Thoughts”) and Korn (“Make Me Dangerous”).
He was maybe greatest recognized for his horror movies.
“When you play small or visitor components in motion pictures, it’s higher to be evil and scare folks than be the man who works within the put up workplace and goes house to his spouse and youngsters,” he stated in a 2021 interview. “Audiences will keep in mind you extra.”