German actor (1926?1991)
Klaus Kinski
|
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|
Born
| Klaus Gunter Karl Nakszynski
[1]
(
1926-10-18
)
18 October 1926
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Died
| 23 November 1991
(1991-11-23)
(aged 65)
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Nationality
| German
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Occupation
| Actor
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Years active
| 1948?1989
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Spouses
| -
Gislinde Kuhbeck
(
m.
1952;
div.
1955)
-
Brigitte Ruth Tocki
(
m.
1960;
div.
1971)
-
Minhoi Genevieve Loanic
(
m.
1971;
div.
1979)
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Children
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Klaus Kinski
(
German:
[kla?s
?k?nskiː]
ⓘ
, born
Klaus Gunter Karl Nakszynski
[2]
18 October 1926 ? 23 November 1991)
[3]
was a German actor.
[4]
Equally renowned for his intense performance style and notorious for his volatile personality,
[5]
[6]
[7]
he appeared in over 130 film roles in a career that spanned 40 years, from 1948 to 1988. He is best known for starring in five films directed by
Werner Herzog
from 1972 to 1987 (
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
,
Nosferatu the Vampyre
,
Woyzeck
,
Fitzcarraldo
, and
Cobra Verde
), who would later chronicle their tumultuous relationship in the documentary
My Best Fiend
.
[8]
Kinski's roles spanned multiple genres, languages, and nationalities, including
Spaghetti Westerns
,
horror films
,
war films
,
dramas
, and
Edgar Wallace
krimi
films. His infamy was elevated by a number of eccentric creative endeavors, including a one-man show based on the life of
Jesus Christ
,
[9]
a
biopic
of violinist
Niccolo Paganini
directed by and starring himself, and over twenty
spoken word
albums.
[10]
Kinski was prone to emotional and often violent outbursts aimed at his directors and fellow cast members, issues complicated by a history of
mental illness
. Herzog described him as "one of the greatest actors of the century, but also a monster and a great pestilence."
[11]
[12]
Posthumously, he was accused of physically and sexually abusing his daughters
Pola
[8]
[13]
and
Nastassja
,
[14]
[15]
themselves actresses. His notoriety and prolific output has developed into a widespread
cult following
[16]
[17]
and a reputation as a
popular icon
.
[18]
Early life
[
edit
]
Klaus Gunter Karl Nakszynski was born on 18 October 1926 in
Zoppot
,
Free City of Danzig
(now Sopot, Poland), to
Polish-German
parents. His father, Bruno Nakszynski, worked as an
opera
singer before becoming a pharmacist, while his mother, Susanne Lutze, was a nurse and the daughter of a local pastor. He had three older siblings; Inge, Arne and Hans-Joachim.
[19]
Due to the
Great Depression
, his family was unable to make a living in Danzig and moved to
Berlin
in 1931, where they also experienced financial difficulties. The family settled in an apartment in the
Schoneberg
district of the city and acquired
German citizenship
.
[19]
In 1936, he began attending the
Prinz-Heinrichs-Gymnasium
[
de
]
in Schoneberg.
[20]
Kinski was conscripted into the
Wehrmacht
in 1943 at the age of 17, serving in a
Fallschirmjager
unit.
[21]
[22]
He saw no action until the winter of 1944, when his unit was transferred to the
German-occupied Netherlands
and he was captured by the
British Army
on his second day of combat.
[21]
[23]
In his 1988 autobiography, he claimed that he had decided to desert from the
Wehrmacht
and had been recaptured by German forces and sentenced to death in a
court-martial
before escaping and hiding in the woods, subsequently encountering a British patrol which shot him in the arm and captured him.
[21]
After being treated for his wounds and interrogated, he was transferred to a
prisoner-of-war camp
in
Colchester
,
Essex
; the ship transporting him to Britain was torpedoed by a German
U-boat
but arrived safely.
[21]
[24]
In his documentary
My Best Fiend
,
Werner Herzog
claimed that Kinski had fabricated much of his 1988 autobiography, including claims of maternal
sexual abuse
,
incest
, and childhood poverty; according to Herzog, Kinski was actually raised in a financially stable
upper middle class
family.
[25]
Career
[
edit
]
While interned at Berechurch Hall in Colchester, Kinski played his first roles on stage, taking part in variety shows intended to maintain morale among the prisoners.
[21]
[24]
By May 1945, at the
end of the war in Europe
, the German POWs were anxious to return home. Kinski had heard that sick prisoners were to be returned first, and tried to qualify by standing outside naked at night,
drinking urine
and eating cigarettes. He remained healthy, however, and was returned to Germany in 1946.
[21]
Arriving in Berlin, he learned his father had died during the war, and his mother had been killed in an
Allied air attack
on the city.
[21]
Theatrical career
[
edit
]
After his return to Germany, Kinski started out as an actor,
[26]
first at a small touring company in
Offenburg
, where he first used the name "Klaus Kinski". In 1946, he was hired by the renowned Schlosspark-Theater in Berlin, but he was fired the following year due to his unpredictable behavior.
[27]
He found work at other theater companies thereafter, but his emotional volatility regularly got him into trouble.
[28]
For three months in 1955, Kinski lived in the same boarding house as a 13-year-old Werner Herzog, who would later direct him in a number of films. In
My Best Fiend
, Herzog described how Kinski once locked himself in the communal bathroom for 48 hours and broke everything in the room.
In March 1956, he made a guest appearance at
Vienna
's
Burgtheater
in
Goethe
's
Torquato Tasso
. Although respected by his colleagues, among them
Judith Holzmeister
, and cheered by the audience, Kinski did not gain a permanent contract after the Burgtheater's management became aware of his earlier difficulties in Germany. Kinski then unsuccessfully tried to sue the company.
[29]
Living jobless in Vienna, Kinski reinvented himself as a
monologist
and
spoken word
artist.
[10]
He presented the prose and verse of
Francois Villon
,
William Shakespeare
and
Oscar Wilde
, amongst others, and toured
Austria
, Germany, and
Switzerland
with his shows.
[30]
Film work
[
edit
]
Kinski's first film role was a small part in the 1948 film
Morituri
. He appeared in several German
Edgar Wallace
movies, and had bit parts in the American war films
Decision Before Dawn
(1951),
A Time to Love and a Time to Die
(1958), and
The Counterfeit Traitor
(1962). In
Alfred Vohrer
's
Die toten Augen von London
(1961), his character refused any personal guilt for his evil deeds and claimed to have only followed the orders given to him. Kinski's performance reflected post-war Germany's reluctance to take responsibility for what had happened during World War II.
[31]
During the 1960s and 1970s, he appeared in various European
exploitation films
, as well as more acclaimed works such as
Doctor Zhivago
(1965), in which he appeared as an anarchist prisoner on his way to the
Gulag
.
He relocated to Italy during the late 1960s, and found roles in numerous
Spaghetti Westerns
, including
For a Few Dollars More
(1965),
A Bullet for the General
(1966),
The Great Silence
(1968),
Twice A Judas
(1969), and
A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe
(1975). In 1977, he starred as the
RZ
guerrillero
Wilfried Bose
in
Operation Thunderbolt
, based on the events of the
Entebbe raid
.
Kinski's work with Werner Herzog brought him international recognition. They made five films together:
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
(1972),
Woyzeck
(1979),
Nosferatu the Vampyre
(1979),
Fitzcarraldo
(1982) and
Cobra Verde
(1987). The working relationship between the two was contentious; Herzog had threatened, on occasion, to murder Kinski. In one incident, Kinski was said to have been saved by his dog who attacked Herzog as he crept up to supposedly burn down the actor's house.
[32]
Herzog has refused to comment on his numerous other plans to kill Kinski. However, he did pull a gun on Kinski, or at least threatened to do so, on the set of
Aguirre, the Wrath of God,
after the actor threatened to walk off the set.
[32]
Late in the filming of
Fitzcarraldo
in Peru, the chief of the
Machiguenga
tribe offered to kill Kinski for Herzog, but the director declined.
[33]
In 1980, Kinski refused the lead villain role of
Major Arnold Toht
in
Raiders of the Lost Ark
, telling director
Steven Spielberg
that the script was "a yawn-making, boring pile of shit"
[32]
and "moronically shitty".
[34]
Kinski would go on to play Kurtz, an Israeli intelligence officer, in
The Little Drummer Girl
, a feature film by
George Roy Hill
in 1984.
Kinski co-starred in the science fiction
television film
Timestalkers
with
William Devane
and
Lauren Hutton
. His last film was
Paganini
(1989), which he wrote, directed, and starred in as
Niccolo Paganini
.
Personal life
[
edit
]
Kinski was married three times. He married his first wife, singer Gislinde Kuhlbeck, in 1952. The couple had a daughter,
Pola Kinski
. They divorced in 1955. Five years later he married actress Ruth Brigitte Tocki. They divorced in 1971. Their daughter
Nastassja Kinski
was born in January 1961.
[35]
He married his third and final wife, model Minhoi Genevieve Loanic, in 1971.
[36]
Their son
Nikolai Kinski
was born in 1976. They divorced in 1979.
Kinski published his autobiography,
All I Need Is Love
, in 1988 (reprinted in 1996 as
Kinski Uncut
). The book prompted his second daughter
Nastassja Kinski
to file a
libel
suit against him, which she afterward withdrew.
[37]
Mental illness
[
edit
]
In 1950, Kinski stayed at the
Karl-Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik
(de)
, a
psychiatric hospital
in
West Berlin
, for three days after stalking his theatrical
sponsor
and attempting to strangle her.
[38]
Medical records from the period listed a preliminary diagnosis of
schizophrenia
, but the doctors' ultimate conclusion was
psychopathy
(
antisocial personality disorder
).
[39]
Kinski soon became unable to secure film roles, and in 1955 he attempted suicide twice.
[29]
Sexual abuse allegations
[
edit
]
In 2013, more than 20 years after her father's death,
Pola Kinski
published an autobiography titled
Kindermund
(or
From a Child's Mouth
), in which she claimed her father had sexually abused her from the age of 5 to 19.
[8]
[13]
In an interview published by the German tabloid
Bild
on 14 January 2013, Kinski's younger daughter and Pola's half-sister, Nastassja, said their father would embrace her in a sexual manner when she was 4?5 years old but never had sex with her. Nastassja has expressed support for Pola and said that she was always afraid of their father, whom she described as an unpredictable tyrant.
[15]
Death
[
edit
]
Kinski died on 23 November 1991 of a sudden heart attack at his home in
Lagunitas, California
; he was 65 years old.
[40]
[41]
His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.
[42]
Of his three children, only his son
Nikolai
attended his funeral.
[43]
Legacy
[
edit
]
In
My Best Fiend
, his 1999 documentary about Kinski, Werner Herzog claimed that Kinski had fabricated much of his autobiography, and told of the difficulties in their working relationship. In the same year, director
David Schmoeller
released a short film entitled
Please Kill Mr. Kinski
, which examined Kinski's erratic and disruptive behavior on the set of Schmoeller's 1986 film
Crawlspace
. The film features behind-the-scenes footage of Kinski's various confrontations with the director and crew, along with Schmoeller's account of the events, in which he claims a producer offered to murder Kinski for his life insurance money.
[44]
In 2006, Christian David published the first comprehensive biography of Kinski, based on newly discovered archived material, personal letters and interviews with the actor's friends and colleagues. Peter Geyer published a paperback book of essays on Kinski's life and work.
Filmography and discography
[
edit
]
Bibliography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Birth certificate
, klaus-kinski.de. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
(in Polish)
- ^
Halliwell, Laurie (1997).
Halliwell's filmgoer's companion
(12th ed.). London, UK: HarperCollins.
ISBN
9780002557986
.
- ^
IMDb database
. Retrieved 21 October 2017
- ^
Kinski, Klaus (1988).
All I Need Is Love
(1st ed.). Random House.
ISBN
0-394-54916-3
.
OCLC
18379547
.
- ^
David, Christian (2008).
Kinski. Die Biographie
. Berlin, Germany: Aufbau-Verlag.
ISBN
978-3-7466-2434-1
.
OCLC
244018538
.
- ^
Geyer, Peter (2006).
Klaus Kinski: Leben, Werk, Wirkung
(in German). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
ISBN
3-518-18220-X
.
- ^
Wise, James E. Jr.; Baron, Scott (2002).
International Stars at War
. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. pp. 105?107.
ISBN
1-55750-965-4
.
- ^
a
b
c
Jackson, Patrick (9 January 2013).
"German actor Klaus Kinski 'abused his daughter Pola'
"
.
BBC News
. Retrieved
19 July
2015
.
- ^
Brehm, Reviews (28 April 2014).
"Jesus Christus Erloser"
.
Fuller Studio
. Retrieved
9 November
2021
.
- ^
a
b
David 2008
, pp. 60?61
- ^
"Murderous feud on the film set"
.
The Guardian
. 21 May 1999
. Retrieved
9 November
2021
.
- ^
"Hideous Kinski"
.
The Guardian
. 5 March 2000
. Retrieved
9 November
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Roxborough, Scott (9 January 2013).
"Klaus Kinski's Daughter Claims He Sexually Abused Her"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Los Angeles, California:
Eldridge Industries
. Retrieved
19 July
2015
.
- ^
Biss, Malta (13 January 2013).
"Jetzt spricht Nastassja"
.
Bild
(in German). Berlin, Germany:
Axel Springer AG
. Retrieved
19 July
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"Nastassja Kinski praises sister for reporting sex abuse"
.
BBC News
. 11 January 2013
. Retrieved
18 March
2021
.
- ^
"Cult hero: Klaus Kinski"
.
The Irish Times
. Retrieved
8 November
2021
.
- ^
Perez, Gilberto (7 November 1999).
"FILM; An Actor and a Director Whose Bond Was, Well, Mad"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
8 November
2021
.
- ^
"
'I am not your Superstar': Klaus Kinski as Jesus Christ"
.
DangerousMinds
. 15 January 2011
. Retrieved
8 November
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Wise & Baron 2002
, p. 105
- ^
David 2008
, pp. 10?13
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Wise & Baron 2002
, p. 106
- ^
"Klaus Kinski - Biographie 1926-1949 ? Ugugu"
.
deaddodo.org
.
- ^
"Klaus Kinski",
Variety
, 1991
- ^
a
b
David 2008
, pp. 14?16
- ^
Decloux, Justin (25 June 2019).
"Klaus Kinski ? The Important Cinema Club Podcast"
.
Film Trap
. Retrieved
8 November
2021
.
- ^
Herzog
,
My Best Fiend
, said that Kinski was self-taught as an actor.
- ^
David 2008
, pp. 16?20
- ^
David 2008
, pp. 22?25
- ^
a
b
David 2008
, pp. 48?59
- ^
David 2008
, pp. 97?102
- ^
David 2008
, pp. 113?19, 136?41
- ^
a
b
c
Gibbons, Fiachra (21 May 1999).
"Murderous feud on the film set"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
19 May
2019
.
- ^
Klaus Kinski Wutausbruch am Filmset von 'Fitzcarraldo' - Section from the Movie "Mein liebster Feind"
(in German)
, retrieved
6 December
2022
- ^
Kinski, Klaus (1996).
Kinski Uncut
. Joachim Neugroschel (trans.). London: Bloomsbury. p. 294.
ISBN
0-7475-2978-7
.
- ^
Welsh, James Michael; Gene D. Phillips; Rodney Hill (2010).
The Francis Ford Coppola Encyclopedia
. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press Inc. p. 154.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
(19 November 1971).
"Klaus Kinski and wife"
.
AP Images
.
Associated Press
. Retrieved
16 June
2021
.
German actor Klaus Kinski puts his arm around his third wife, Vietnamese Genevieve Minhoi, during a walk in West Berlin, 19 November 1971.
- ^
Wise & Baron 2002
, p. 107
- ^
"The Psychiatric Files: Klaus Kinski's Widow Files Charges against Berlin, Clinic"
.
Der Spiegel
. smd/ap/afp. 29 July 2008
. Retrieved
16 June
2021
.
Minhaoi Loanic, Kinski's third wife, is going after the archive for releasing Kinski's patient file from the time he was admitted to the Karl Bonhoeffer Nerve Clinic in September, 1950. The records were among thousands that Vivantes, the company that runs the clinic, handed over to the city's archives last week. The mass circulation daily Bild published details from Kinski's file last week.
- ^
"Asylum records confirm Klaus Kinski's madness"
.
thelocal.de
. 22 July 2008
. Retrieved
16 May
2016
.
- ^
*
Jones, Kevin L. (11 July 2016).
"Werner Herzog on Les Blank: "I Do Not Feel that He Has Passed Away"
"
.
KQED
.
The entire interview, captured by KQED Arts in a Facebook Live video, includes even more Bay Area-based stories, like the time that
Herzog
visited his longtime friend, actor Klaus Kinski, in his cabin in the woods of Lagunitas.
- ^
James, Caryn (27 November 1991).
"Klaus Kinski, 65, Actor Known For His Portraits of the Obsessed"
.
The New York Times
. New York City.
- ^
David 2008
, pp. 353?54
- ^
Edwards, Matthew, ed. (2016).
Klaus Kinski, Beast of Cinema: Critical Essays and Fellow Filmmaker Interviews
. Jefferson, North Carolina:
McFarland & Company
. p. 174.
ISBN
978-0-7864-9897-0
.
- ^
"Please Kill Mr Kinski ? an interview with film director David Schmoeller"
.
Du dumme Sau ? a Kinski Blog
. 2 March 2011
. Retrieved
4 December
2014
.
- ^
"KLAUS KINSKI ? Actor, Director and Fruitcake with Extra Nuts"
.
Streamline | The Official Filmstruck Blog
. Filmstruck. Archived from
the original
on 6 September 2019
. Retrieved
16 June
2021
.
Kinski is in almost every scene, chewing up the scenery and his co-stars with wild abandon. But if you think he looks wild-eyed and possessed by the devil as the legendary violin virtuosi, you need to check out the behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of KINSKI PAGANINI, because that is proof that he really was the wild man he often appeared to be.
- ^
Ross, Alex (20 August 1996).
"Auto-da-fe"
.
Slate
. Retrieved
16 June
2021
.
Klaus Kinski's self-immolating screed.....In the end, the book is another performance, another ranting Kinski creation. If asked for a Siskel-and-Ebert yea or nay, I wouldn't know what to say: It can be recommended only to certain tastes. Amateur psychologists may enjoy it as a sort of high-level Nintendo game of bombarding sexual neuroses. Students of human misery can savor its underlying sadness and futility. And as always with Kinski, there's a taunting taste of comedy; the tears on his cheeks are from laughter. As I put this wretched book down, I thought I heard a cackle from somewhere, and a man with red eyes rasping, "Idioten!"
External links
[
edit
]
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