German actor Udo Kier, a film veteran whose diverse body of work spanned from Lars von Trier tragedies to \u201cAce Ventura: Pet Detective\u201d and \u201cBlade,\u201d has died. He was 81. <\/p>\n
A ubiquitous avant-garde film star, Kier died Sunday morning, his partner, Delbert McBride, confirmed to Variety<\/a>. McBride did not provide a cause of death. <\/p>\n By the time of his death, Kier had racked up more than 200 film and television credits, most notably his collaborations with Von Trier. They worked together intermittently over several decades, starting with 1987\u2019s \u201cEpidemic\u201d and last collaborating on Von Trier\u2019s \u201cNymphomaniac<\/a>\u201d in 2013. Kier, also in films \u201cDancer in the Dark\u201d (starring Bj\u00f6rk), \u201cMelancholia\u201d and \u201cBreaking the Waves\u201d among others, aided Von Trier in his explorations into the bleakest of human emotions.<\/p>\n In addition to Von Trier, Kier starred in films from a number of other famed European filmmakers including Werner Herzog, Dario Argento and childhood friend Rainer Werner Fassbinder over the course of his career. <\/p>\n Kier, known for his his imposing presence and piercing blue eyes, often played offbeat and menacing characters in art-house films, including a desperate, virgin-seeking Count Dracula in 1974\u2019s \u201cBlood for Dracula\u201d (\u201cAndy Warhol\u2019s Dracula\u201d) directed by Paul Morrissey. A year prior, the artists collaborated on 1973\u2019s \u201cFlesh for Frankenstein.\u201d Kier was often cast as supernatural, appearing in \u201cBlade\u201d and \u201cShadow of the Vampire\u201d alongside Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich, among other horror movies. <\/p>\n Nearly 30 years after his breakout role in the 1966 short film \u201cRoad to Saint Tropez,\u201d the Cologne-born Kier notably starred in Gus Van Sant\u2019s 1991 feature \u201cMy Own Private Idaho,\u201d sharing the screen with a young Keanu Reeves and the late River Phoenix. The film has become a cult classic, earning praise for its depiction of sex and queerness. The feature was one of 25 films selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry <\/a>of the Library of Congress in 2024. <\/p>\n Though best known for his arthouse roles, Kier also appeared in numerous mainstream works including \u201cAce Ventura: Pet Detective,\u201d \u201cDownsizing\u201d and \u201cArmageddon.\u201d His most recent film credits include \u201cSwan Song,\u201d <\/a>\u201cBacurau\u201d and \u201cThe Secret Agent,\u201d Brazil\u2019s international feature film entry<\/a> for the 2026 Academy Awards. <\/p>\n Kier also starred in scores of TV projects including Von Trier\u2019s television film \u201cMedea,\u201d horror miniseries \u201cThe Kingdom,\u201d and shows \u201cScooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated,\u201d \u201cPitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin\u201d and \u201cHunters.\u201d<\/p>\n Outside television and film, Kier appeared in music videos for Madonna (\u201cDeeper and Deeper<\/a>,\u201d \u201cErotica\u201d), the Goo Goo Dolls, Supertramp and Korn, among other artists. He also lent his voice to a handful of video games including \u201cCall of Duty: WWII\u201d and was set to collaborate with Hideo Kojima on his upcoming \u201cOD.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Kier was born Oct. 14, 1944, in a hospital that was being bombed by Allied forces during World War II, according to Variety. Kier\u2019s father left before his birth and the actor was raised by his mother. In his teenage years, Kier sparked a friendship with Fassbinder. <\/p>\n In the mid-\u201960s, Kier moved to London to study English but was instead discovered and cast in \u201cRoad to Saint Tropez.\u201d He later met Morrissey, who was closely associated with Warhol at the time, laying the foundation for his decades-long film career. <\/p>\n Kier lived in Palm Springs, where he was a regular at the annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German actor Udo Kier, a film veteran whose diverse body of work spanned from Lars von Trier tragedies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[40928,40924,40922,339,40927,5592,1924,40920,48,52,51,40921,47,50,49,40923,14310,40929,40926,40925,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-69141","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ace-ventura","9":"tag-blade","10":"tag-count-dracula","11":"tag-death","12":"tag-deeper","13":"tag-feature","14":"tag-film","15":"tag-kier","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-la-headlines","18":"tag-la-news","19":"tag-lars-von-trier-collaborator","20":"tag-los-angeles","21":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","22":"tag-los-angeles-news","23":"tag-own-private-idaho","24":"tag-road","25":"tag-saint-tropez","26":"tag-udo-kier","27":"tag-variety","28":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}