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Udo Kier died at the age of 81. Over 275 roles made him an unmistakable figure in the international film world – and a character of his generation.
As his partner Delbert McBride confirmed to the industry magazine “Variety”, Kier died on Sunday morning in a hospital in Palm Springs. Photographer Michael Childers, a close friend, also announced the news on social media. An exact cause of death was not given.
Famous for his penetrating gaze, Kier preferred to play villains, outsiders and characters on the edge of humanity. Vampires and Nazis were among his most common roles. In addition to film and television, he also worked in music videos (such as Madonna’s “Deeper and Deeper”) and video games. “I like horror films,” he once said. “If you only get small roles, the evil will leave a much stronger impression on the audience than a postal worker going home to his family.”
Debut in horror film
At the age of 16, he met the future director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who was the same age, in a workers’ bar in Cologne. A little later, Kier moved to London to learn English – and was discovered by chance in a café. “I liked the attention,” he said. “So I became an actor.” His breakthrough came in 1970 with the horror film “Mark of the Devil”.
Coincidences played a crucial role in his career. On a flight he sat next to Paul Morrissey, Andy Warhol’s resident director, who promptly cast Kier in 1973’s “Flesh for Frankenstein” and 1974’s “Blood for Dracula.” He later worked with Fassbinder again and starred in “The Marriage of Maria Braun”, “Lola”, “The Third Generation”, “Lili Marleen” and in the series “Berlin Alexanderplat”.
In the 1980s, Kier met the young Danish director Lars von Trier. He signed him for his “Medea” TV production from 1987 – the beginning of a decades-long collaboration. Kier even became godfather to Von Trier’s son. With the director he filmed, among others, “Breaking the Waves,” “Dancer in the Dark,” “Dogville” and “Melancholia.”
Gus Van Sant, fascinated by Kier’s performances in Frankenstein and Dracula, gave him his first Hollywood role in 1991’s “My Own Private Idaho.” Madonna, also a fan of the film, cast him as her fun-loving husband in her book Sex. She later hired him for the music videos for Erotica and “Deeper and Deeper”. Further video appearances followed, including for Supertramp, Korn and Eve.
Last appearance in the video game
He later worked with director S. Craig Zahler, among others, and starred in “Brawl in Cell Block 99” and “Dragged Across Concrete”.
About his extensive filmography, Kier once said: “100 films are bad, 50 you can watch with a glass of wine and 50 are good.”
His last film was the political thriller “The Secret Agent,” in which he plays a Jewish Holocaust survivor trapped in the final years of Brazil’s military dictatorship. He will also appear in the upcoming horror video game “OD” by Hideo Kojima and Jordan Peele.