Klaus Kinski

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Klaus Kinski.

Klaus Kinski (October 18, 1926 – November 23, 1991) was a German actor, famous for his ability to project on-screen intensity, and for his explosive temperament. Although he acted in over 180 films, his international reputation is built on five collaborations with German director Werner Herzog, including the films Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987).

1 Life
2 Reputation
3 Books
4 Filmography (in progress)
5 External links

[edit] Life

Kinski was born Nikolaus Karl Günther Nakszyński in Sopot, Poland. His parents were Bruno Nakszyński, a German pharmacist of Polish origin, and Susanne Lutze, a German pastor's daughter from Danzig. In 1930/31, the family moved to Berlin and Kinski attended the Prinz-Heinrich-Gymnasium in Schöneberg.

Kinski was drafted into the German Army in 1944 and served in the Netherlands. He reputedly went AWOL and surrendered to the British forces, spending the rest of the wartime as a POW. Whilst in a POW camp near Colchester he discovered his acting talent, performing for fellow prisoners.

After the war, he returned to West Germany. He began acting and changed his name to Klaus Kinski. He started on stage in Germany, became a legend as a monologist (presenting the prose and verse of William Shakespeare and François Villon, among others), and soon moved, pragmatically, to film, where the money was better. His last stage appearances were in November 1971, part of his "Jesus Tour", a one-man show in which Kinski reinterpreted the Gospels with Jesus as a ranting psychopath.

Off-screen, Kinski often appeared as a wild-eyed, sex-crazed maniac. He chronicled his exploits in an autobiography—Kinski: All I Need Is Love or Kinski Uncut, which, according to Werner Herzog's My Best Fiend, a documentary about the pair's experiences working together, was largely fabricated to generate sales. (A libel suit from Marlene Dietrich due to Kinski depicting her as a lesbian resulted in the book being withdrawn from circulation until her death). He was married three times and had (according to his autobiography) at least five children, three of whom he regarded as such: two daughters (Nastassja Kinski and Pola Kinski), and a son (Nikolai Kinski), all of them actors. His brother Arne lives in Berlin, still bitter about the way Klaus portrayed him in his autobiography. He alienated his family with claims of incest with his sister and his mother.

When he died of a heart attack in Lagunitas, California, United States at age 65, only his son Nikolai attended the funeral (his ashes were strewn in the Pacific Ocean).

[edit] Reputation

His international reputation is built on five collaborations with director Werner Herzog, in the films Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), Woyzeck (1979), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and finally Cobra Verde (1987). Several of these collaborations are now recognised as considerable masterpieces of European cinema, but the two men's working relationship proved to be a volatile and explosive one. Some of Kinski and Herzog's arguments during these productions have been preserved on both tape and film, with both apparently threatening to even kill each other during one heated dispute. The love-hate relationship between the two obsessive men drove them to creative heights, but eventually to a final split in 1987. Herzog's retrospective on his work with Kinski was released in the United States as My Best Fiend (1999).

Kinski was an extremely hard worker and strove for perfection, but was frequently at odds with collaborators and directors, and rarely a team player. On one infamous occasion Kinski hurled a lit candelabra from the stage at an audience deemed insufficiently appreciative, almost burning the theatre down. On another, whilst filming Aguirre: The Wrath of God, irritated by the noise from a hut where cast and crew were playing cards, Kinski fired three shots at it, blowing the top joint off one extra's finger. After a dispute during the shooting of Aguirre: The Wrath of God Kinski started leaving the jungle location (over Herzog's refusal to fire a sound assistant), only changing his mind after Herzog threatened to shoot Kinski and then himself.

Often referred to as a mad genius, Werner Herzog described him as "an outright egomaniac". Herzog also once said, "People like Brando are just kindergarten compared to Kinski". His behaviour may have been influenced by the German theatre directors of his early career, some of whom would frequently scream and shout abuse during rehearsals. Karl Paryla, for example, saw it as part of his methodology to drive his actors close to a nervous breakdown, on the basis that they would then perform better. Fritz Kortner (whom Kinski mentions in his autobiography) was also famous for being very harsh and brutal during rehearsals.

With his fluency in English and French, his unique appearance, and his ability to project onscreen intensity, Kinski was always able to get roles, although the quality of the productions varied wildly, most of them considered "junk" (Schrott) by Kinski himself. When Steven Spielberg offered him the part of one of the German villains in Raiders of the Lost Ark, he turned it down, stating: "[...] as much as I'd like to do a movie with Spielberg, the script is as moronically shitty as so many other flicks of this ilk.", preferring a part in Venom (1982), reportedly because the money was better. Of his film choices he once said "So I sell myself, for the highest price. Exactly like a prostitute. There is no difference."

Kinski's last film (which he also wrote and directed) was Kinski Paganini (1989), in which he played the legendary violinist Niccolò Paganini. His earlier film roles include - as well as the Edgar Wallace movies - Decision Before Dawn (1950), A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958), The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), Winnetou 2. Teil (Last of the Renegades) (1964), dir.: Dr. Harald Reinl, For a Few Dollars More (1965), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Grand Slam (1967), The Great Silence (1969). Kinski also starred as the main terrorist character in the 1977 Israeli movie "Operation Thunderbolt", based on the events of the 1976 Operation Entebbe.

He died in Lagunitas, California.

Recently he was honoured by his city of birth, Sopot.

[edit] Books

Klaus Kinski: All I Need Is Love (1988), ISBN 0-394-54916-3, re-titled Kinski Uncut: The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (1997), ISBN 0-14-025536-2.
Peter Geyer: Klaus Kinski: Leben, Werk, Wirkung (2006), Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 2006. ISBN 351818220X
Christian David: Kinski. Die Biographie. Berlin: Aufbau 2006. ISBN 3-351-02647-1