RIP Maximilian Schell

[Glassfan]

(CNN) -- Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell, winner of an Academy Award for his portrayal of a defense lawyer in "Judgment at Nuremberg," has died, his agent, Patricia Baumbauer, said Saturday. He was 83.

Schell died at an hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, with his wife, Iva, at his side, Baumbauer told CNN.

"He was suffering from a long illness," Baumbauer said. "My mother was Schell's agent for over 50 years, and when she died four years ago, he remained with the agency. He was like a father to me and knew me my entire life.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

Hm... To be honest, all I know this guy for is making distinctive speeches in a series of German public historic documentaries when he already was fairly old. He had a very distinctive voice though, dark, rough but still utterly jelly- grandpa-santa-clause-like. I loved him when I first saw him back then (me still being fairly young at the time). I'll always remember him narrating the story on pre-modern Japan.
But what makes him really stick out right now is that I find my self utterly surprised to see a thread on him at OT!
I know nothing about this international career though.

 

[Glassfan]

Hm... To be honest,...
I know nothing about this international career though.

Maximilian Schell Biography
Maximilian Schell may not be a household name, but he is internationally respected, particularly in Europe, as an award-winning actor/director of stage and screen. He was born in Vienna, Austria, on December 8, 1930, but raised in Switzerland after his parents, Swiss author/poet Hermann Ferdinand Schell and Austrian actress Margarethe Noe von Nordberg, fled there to escape the effects of Nazi Germany's forcible annexation of Austria in 1938. As a young man, Schell studied at three universities -- Zurich, Basel, and Munich -- before making his professional stage debut in 1952. In 1955, he appeared in his first film, Kinder, Mütter und ein General. He next debuted on Broadway and then in Hollywood, playing a German officer who befriends fellow soldier Marlon Brando in The Young Lions (1958). Schell earned an Oscar in 1961 for his intriguing performance as a defense attorney in Judgment at Nuremberg, and would subsequently be nominated for Oscars for his work in The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) and Julia (1977). In 1968, he produced Das Schloss (The Castle) and made his feature film directorial/screenwriting debut with Erste Liebe (First Love) in 1970. The latter film earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Film, as did his 1973 effort Der Fussgänger. The latter also won him a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film. As a director and producer, Schell distinguished himself on the international stage with productions such as the remarkable Tales From the Vienna Woods and the modern opera Coronet. In addition to film and stage work, he has occasionally worked on television, winning a Golden Globe for his supporting role as Lenin in the HBO miniseries Stalin (1992) and additional acclaim for his work in Peter the Great (1986) and Joan of Arc (1999). Schell's screen appearances became sporadic in the later 1980s, and he rarely branched out from acting. Notable films from the '90s included a rare comic role opposite Marlon Brando in The Freshman (1990), a dramatic turn as a stern patriarch in screenwriter Joe Eszterhas' autobiographical Telling Lies in America (1997), Tea Leoni's father in Deep Impact (1998), and a cardinal in John Carpenter's Vampires (1998). When not busying himself on stage, screen, and television, he distinguished himself as a concert pianist and conductor. He performed with Claudio Abado, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, and Leonard Bernstein.In his later years before his death in 2014 he appeared in Fisimatenten, and in 2002 he directed My Sister Maria. In 2008 he appeared in both House of the Sleeping Beauties, and the con-artist comedy The Brothers Bloom. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Julia

Judgment at Nuremberg

Deep Impact

The Man in the Glass Booth