Maximilian Schell
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Maximilian Schell (born December 8, 1930) is an Academy Award-winning Austrian actor in over 92 film/TV roles, as well as writer, director and producer of several films (IMDB). His late elder sister, Maria Schell, was also an actress, as are his two other far less well-known siblings, Carl and Immy (Immaculata) Schell.
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[edit] Career
Born in Vienna and raised in Zurich, Switzerland, he made his Hollywood debut in 1958 in the World War II film The Young Lions. In 1961, he took the role of the defense attorney in Judgment at Nuremberg, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a role he had initiated in a live television performance. Year 1974's The Pedestrian, which Schell wrote, produced, directed, and starred in, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.
Schell has refused to be typecast. Although he was top billed in a number of Nazi-era themed films as The Man in the Glass Booth, A Bridge Too Far, Cross of Iron, The Odessa File, Julia, and Judgment at Nuremberg, he has also appeared in Topkapi, The Black Hole, The Freshman, Stalin, Deep Impact, Candles in the Dark, and Erste Liebe.
Among fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Schell is best known for his appearance in Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark, a German language version of Hamlet screened on the show.
Schell has also served as a writer, producer and director for a variety of films, including the documentary Marlene with the participation of Marlene Dietrich that won several awards. In 2002 he released My Sister Maria, a documentary about the career of and his relationship with Maria Schell.
In 2000, he collapsed and was diagnosed with pancreatitis related to his diabetes. At the time, he was starring on Broadway in the premiere of the stage version of Judgment at Nuremberg, changing roles from the defense lawyer to the lead judge on trial for crimes against humanity.
Since the 1990s, Schell has appeared in many German language made-for-TV films, such as the 2003 film Alles Glück dieser Erde (All the Luck in the World) opposite Uschi Glas and in the mini-series The Return of the Dancing Master (2004), which was based on Henning Mankell's novel.
In 2006, he appeared in Arthur Miller's Resurrection Blues directed by Robert Altman in London at the Old Vic.
He is the godfather of Angelina Jolie, daughter of Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand.
In the mid 1960s, Schell reportedly was engaged to marry the African American fashion model Donyale Luna, though the wedding never happened.
He did marry Natasha Andreichenko, whom he met on the set of Peter the Great. They have one daughter born in 1989.
[edit] Partial filmography
- The Young Lions (1958)
- Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
- The Reluctant Saint (1962)
- Topkapi (1964)
- Heidi (1968)
- Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)
- Erste Liebe (1971)
- The Odessa File (1974)
- Der Richter und sein Henker (1975)
- Cross of Iron (1976)
- Julia (1977)
- A Bridge Too Far (1977)
- The Black Hole (1979)
- The Chosen (1981)
- The Phantom of the Opera (1985)
- The Freshman (1990)
- Little Odessa (1994)
- The Eighteenth Angel (1996)
- John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)
- Deep Impact (1998)
- Coast To Coast (2004)
[edit] Academy Awards and nominations
- 1978 - Nominated - Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Julia
- 1976 - Nominated Best Actor in a Leading Role - The Man in the Glass Booth
- 1961 - Won Best Actor in a Leading Role - Judgment at Nuremberg
| Preceded by Burt Lancaster for Elmer Gantry |
Academy Award for Best Actor 1961 for Judgment at Nuremberg |
Succeeded by Gregory Peck forTo Kill a Mockingbird |
