He appeared in more than 270 film and television productions and was considered one of the few real German Hollywood stars. Now actor Udo Kier has died in his adopted home of California. He was 81 years old.
Kier’s partner, the artist Delbert McBride, confirmed the actor’s death to the industry magazine Variety. Nothing is yet known about the cause of death.
Kier was born Udo Kierspe in Cologne in 1944. He began his career as a model and later trained as an actor. In the 1970s and 80s, Kier worked several times with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and he also had a close professional relationship with Lars von Trier.
In the early 1990s, Kier moved to the US West Coast and then found success with his role in Gus Van Sant’s film “My Private Idaho”. He also appeared in films such as Blade (1998) and the sci-fi comedy Iron Sky (2012).