Udo Kier

Udo Kier, born Udo Kierspe in Cologne in 1944, was a German actor best known as a character actor who often played eccentric and sinister figures. Across a career from the mid 1960s to 2025 he appeared in more than 200 films, in both leading and supporting parts, in Europe and the Americas. His breakthrough came with the title roles in Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula, two cult films directed by Paul Morrissey in the 1970s, which made him an icon of horror cinema. He later became a regular presence in both genre films and art house cinema, working with directors including Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Lars von Trier, Gus Van Sant, Werner Herzog, Dario Argento and Wim Wenders. He was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Swan Song and received a Special Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for his contribution to queer cinema. He died in California in November 2025.