Udo Kier turns 70
On 14 October one of Germany’s few truly international film stars celebrates his seventieth birthday. Udo Kier’s striking face and piercing blue eyes have featured in over 200 films, ranging from art-house to exploitation films as well as big Hollywood productions, in which he has relished a number of villainous roles. With such a body of work under his belt, it is no wonder that Kier’s openness to different genres and formats has become the actor’s trademark.
In the course of his career he has repeatedly collaborated with directors known for their highly distinctive styles, such as Paul Morrissey, Lars von Trier, Dario Argento, Gus Van Sant and Christoph Schlingensief. Udo Kier was still a young man when he met Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who at the time was living with his father in Cologne. However, it would be nearly two decades before the two of them worked together. Between 1977 and 1981, Kier appeared in four of RWF’s films: BOLWIESER, an adaptation of a work by Bavarian author Oskar Maria Graf, THE THIRD GENERATION, a satire about Germany’s Red Army Faction, LILI MARLEEN and LOLA.
The actor’s seventieth birthday also coincides with the release of the documentary ARTEHOLIC, which premieres in German cinemas on 16 October and focuses on Udo Kier and his passion for art. Hermann Vaske’s film features Kier talking about his time with Andy Warhol along with appearances by friends and fellow artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Jonathan Meese and Tobias Rehberger.
More information
Website of Udo Kier: http://www.udokier.de/
Website of the film ARTEHOLIC: http://www.camino-film.com/filme/arteholic/
Photo left: Udo Kier in THE THIRD GENERATION © Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation
Photo right: Udo Kier in ARTEHOLIC © Camino Filmverleih