Udo Kier, the German star of some of the most acclaimed arthouse films of the past half-century, has died at the age of 81.
Kier’s partner, the artist Delbert McBride, confirmed to Variety that Kier died Sunday morning.
Across six decades and roles in more than 200 films and television series, Kier became an icon of the audacious, the experimental, and the avant-garde. The actor collaborated with and even acted as a muse to some of the most esteemed filmmakers of his generation. Kier starred in six films and a TV series by the Danish provocateur Lars Von Trier, including the 2000 musical tragedy Dancer in the Dark, which won the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Born in Cologne on the eve of the German Instrument of Surrender, Kier described having a “horrible childhood” in Germany, with a father “already married with three children” and a mother struggling to raise him in poverty. He revealed in 2002 that he “went to work in a factory” to fulfill his sole “intention — to get out of that misery I was born into.”
Kier moved to London at 18, learned English, and kicked off his career with a leading role in the 1966 short film Road to Saint Tropez. In less than a decade, Kier would land a role in one of his signature films, the 1973 shocker Flesh for Frankenstein from legendary underground filmmaker Paul Morrissey and costarring Warhol superstar Joe Dallesandro.
Kier never settled for work of one style, in one genre, or hailing from one country. He worked widely across Europe, North America, and even South America as he progressed from aspiring star to reliable supporting player to cult icon.
In recent years, Kier re-established his eminence with a pair of memorable roles in two films from Brazilian luminary Kleber Mendonça Filho, both of which brought him back to Cannes; Kier appeared as the ruthless commander of a brigade of bounty hunters in 2019’s Bacurau and the Jewish tailor, Hans, figuratively and literally scarred by his experience in WWII in this year’s The Secret Agent.