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Klaus Kinski is a Actor, Director, Writer and Editor Allemand born on 18 october 1926 at Sopot (Pologne)

Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski
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Birth name Nikolaus Karl Günther Nakszyński
Nationality German
Birth 18 october 1926 at Sopot (Pologne)
Death 23 november 1991 (at 65 years) at Lagunitas-Forest Knolls (USA)

Klaus Kinski (born Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski; 18 October 1926 – 23 November 1991) was a German actor. He appeared in more than 130 films, and was a leading role actor in the films of Werner Herzog, including Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Woyzeck (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Cobra Verde (1987). He was considered a controversial figure in Germany. Some of his violent outbursts on set were filmed in Herzog's documentary My Best Fiend.

He is the father of Pola, Nastassja, and Nikolai Kinski, born of three different marriages. They have all become actors and have worked in Germany and the United States, primarily in film and TV.

Biography

Klaus Kinski est le cadet des quatre enfants de Bruno Nakszyński, pharmacien allemand d'ascendance polonaise, et de Susanne Lutze, infirmière allemande dont le père était pasteur. Il est élevé bourgeoisement, mais ses parents meurent pendant la guerre, il doit voler pour vivre. Enrôlé dans la Wehrmacht en 1943, blessé au cours des derniers combats, il est fait prisonnier par les Anglais en 1944. Devant ses compagnons de captivité, il monte pour la première fois sur les planches sans que ce soit pour autant une véritable vocation.

C'est vers le théâtre qu'il se dirige au lendemain de sa libération, en 1946. Après quelques petits rôles sans importance, il se révèle, sous le nom de Klaus Kinski, dans deux pièces de Jean Cocteau : La Machine à écrire, puis La Voix humaine (1947), un long monologue dans lequel il incarne le rôle d'une femme désespérée, et dont la représentation fait scandale.

Il débute au cinéma en 1948, quitte l'Allemagne pour vagabonder en France, refait du théâtre en 1951, puis du cinéma à partir de 1955. Son irascibilité lui ferme bien des portes, mais polyglotte, il tourne dans plusieurs pays, et apparaît dans de nombreux rôles secondaires, comme dans Le Docteur Jivago de David Lean. Il tient progressivement des rôles principaux, notamment de méchants, dans les années 1960, et devient une vedette du cinéma de série B, principalement en Italie. Les films de Werner Herzog lui permettent ensuite de parvenir à une plus grande reconnaissance, dans le domaine du cinéma d'art et d'essai.

Le Grand Silence, western italien de Sergio Corbucci sorti en 1968, est le premier film qui attire sur lui l'attention en France. Suivront entre autres Justine de Sade (1968), L'important c'est d'aimer (1974), Mort d'un pourri (1979), qu'il hante littéralement de sa présence. Il invente, par exemple, une façon particulière d'entrer dans le champ de la caméra en tournant de manière à être de profil puis de face en pivotant sur ses jambes (la caméra ne filmant que son torse, son visage et non ses jambes) et sans que la caméra ne fasse aucun mouvement : c'est la « vis Kinski » (décrite comme telle par Werner Herzog).

Klaus Kinski a tourné un nombre impressionnant de films : des policiers aux « westerns spaghetti » en passant par des dizaines de série B, et surtout les films de Werner Herzog : Aguirre, la colère de Dieu (1972) où son jeu hallucinant incite le metteur en scène à parler de génie, suivis de Nosferatu, fantôme de la nuit et Woyzeck (tous deux en 1979) puis Fitzcarraldo (1982) et Cobra Verde (1987), dans lesquels son talent se révèle tout aussi fantastique. Si ces cinq films, fruits de sa collaboration avec Herzog, lui apportent la consécration dans le monde du cinéma, Kinski a avoué cyniquement avoir choisi d'autres films de sa carrière uniquement en fonction du cachet et de la durée du tournage et même refusé des offres de Spielberg ou d'Akira Kurosawa au motif que ces derniers ne lui proposaient pas assez d'argent.

Acteur charismatique, réputé pour ses coups de tête et ses colères ravageuses, les relations difficiles qu'elles entraînent avec les réalisateurs font l'objet du film documentaire de Werner Herzog, dont il était l'acteur fétiche : Ennemis intimes (Mein Liebster Feind, littéralement Mon plus cher ennemi, 1999, parfois traduit par Mon ennemi intime).



En 1975, Kinski publie son autobiographie, traduite en français en 1976 sous le titre Crever pour vivre. Il y parle de son enfance misérable, de ses aventures crapuleuses, de ses passions, de ses haines, de ses folies, de son goût de la démesure et de ses préférences sexuelles pour les mineures. Sa famille est outrée par le contenu du livre, qui contribue à éloigner l'acteur de ses enfants : seul son fils cadet, Nikolai, assistera à ses funérailles en 1991. Kinski meurt d'une crise cardiaque à Lagunitas en Californie à 65 ans, ses cendres sont dispersées dans l'océan Pacifique.

En 2013, avec la publication de son autobiographie Kindermund, la fille aînée, Pola Kinski, accuse son père de l'avoir violée de l'âge de 5 ans à 19 ans. La cadette Nastassja dénonce également un père tyrannique, terrifiant, qui a tenté d'abuser d'elle.

Ses trois enfants ont eux aussi choisi la profession d'acteurs :


Pola Kinski (née en 1952)
Nastassja Kinski (née 1961) connue pour le film Tess de Roman Polanski (1979)

Best films

Usually with

Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
(9 films)
Horst Wendlandt
Horst Wendlandt
(18 films)
Edgar Wallace
Edgar Wallace
(18 films)
Eddi Arent
Eddi Arent
(15 films)
Source : Wikidata

Filmography of Klaus Kinski (141 films)

Display filmography as list

Actor

My Best Fiend, 1h35
Directed by Werner Herzog
Genres Documentary
Themes Films about television, Documentary films about business, Documentary films about the film industry, Documentaire sur une personnalité
Actors Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski, Eva Mattes, Isabelle Adjani, Claudia Cardinale, Mick Jagger
Roles Self (archive footage)
Rating77% 3.8959353.8959353.8959353.8959353.895935
The film opens with shots of Klaus Kinski performing – after his own interpretation – the role of Jesus. Kinski harangues the audience for not paying attention to him, curses wildly, has the microphone taken away from him, and, screaming, steals it back. Kinski left one of his Jesus tours to star in Herzog's film, Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972). This was the first of five films that the two would make together, the others being Nosferatu the Vampyre (1978); Woyzeck (1978); Fitzcarraldo (1982); and Cobra Verde (1987).
Paganini
Paganini (1990)
, 1h21
Directed by Klaus Kinski
Origin Italie
Genres Drama, Musical
Themes Films about music and musicians, Films about classical music and musicians, Musical films
Actors Klaus Kinski, Debora Caprioglio, Nikolai Kinski, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Tosca D'Aquino, Eva Grimaldi
Roles Niccolo Paganini
Rating51% 2.5600352.5600352.5600352.5600352.560035
The film is a biopic about the life of Niccolò Paganini, who many consider to be one of the greatest violinists who ever lived.
Nosferatu in Venice, 1h37
Directed by Klaus Kinski, Mario Caiano, Luigi Cozzi, Pasquale Squitieri, Maurizio Lucidi, Augusto Caminito
Genres Horror
Themes Films about magic and magicians, Films about religion, Dracula films, Vampires in film
Actors Klaus Kinski, Christopher Plummer, Donald Pleasence, Barbara De Rossi, Yorgo Voyagis, Clara Colosimo
Roles Nosferatu
Rating52% 2.6147652.6147652.6147652.6147652.614765
Professor Paris Catalano goes to Venice to investigate the last known appearance of Nosferatu during the Carnival of 1786. Catalano seems to think that the vampire is searching for a means to put an end to his torment and actually be dead. He stays with a family who, legend says, has the vampire trapped in a tomb in the basement. After a séance "the vampire" appears and then it becomes a question of how do you put the evil back into the box.
Cobra Verde, 1h51
Directed by Werner Herzog
Origin German
Genres Drama, Adventure
Themes Films set in Africa, Films about slavery
Actors Klaus Kinski, José Lewgoy, Peter Berling, Benito Stefanelli, Carlos Mayolo
Roles Francisco Manoel da Silva aka Cobra Verde
Rating68% 3.4492453.4492453.4492453.4492453.449245
Francisco Manoel da Silva (Klaus Kinski) is a debauched Brazilian rancher who reluctantly goes to work at a gold mining company after his ranch is ruined by drought. When he discovers that he is being financially exploited, he murders his boss and goes on the lam to pursue a career as an outlaw. He becomes the notorious Cobra Verde (Green Snake), the most vicious bandit of the servao.
Timestalkers, 1h40
Directed by Michael Schultz
Origin USA
Genres Drama, Science fiction, Thriller, Adventure, Western
Themes Time travel films
Actors William Devane, Lauren Hutton, John Ratzenberger, Forrest Tucker, Klaus Kinski, Tracey Walter
Roles Dr. Joseph Cole
Rating55% 2.7999252.7999252.7999252.7999252.799925
Dr. Scott McKenzie (William Devane) is a college professor and ardent fan of the gunslinger culture of the Old West. A year ago, McKenzie watched his wife and son die in a car crash caused by a drunk driver attempting to flee the police. With his friend, General Joe Brodsky (John Ratzenberger), McKenzie attends an auction of Wild West memorabilia, where they agree to bid on a pair of steamer trunks and split the contents between them. As the auction is conducted, flashbacks show the items' histories in the 19th century. At the time a man, Joseph Cole (Klaus Kinski), is looking for a gunslinger who has a pair of distinctive ebony-handled pistols marked with stars. Some cowboys he encounters on the road point him towards the town of Crossfire, California. At the town saloon, he inquires about the man but is harassed by a trio of local thugs, one of whom shoots at him, hitting instead one of the trunks which Dr. McKenzie is bidding on in the present. Cole quickly shoots all three men dead, an event memorialized by a local photographer. In the present, McKenzie and Brodsky win the trunks at auction and McKenzie begins sorting through the contents, noticing the picture of the men who Cole killed.
Revenge of the Stolen Stars, 1h16
Directed by Ulli Lommel
Origin USA
Genres Adventure
Actors Klaus Kinski, Suzanna Love, Ulli Lommel, Tikoy Aguiluz
Roles Donald McBride
Rating26% 1.347881.347881.347881.347881.34788
A young man named Gene McBride inherits a large plantation and a mine of rubies on an island south of the China Sea. Gene moves there with his beloved Kelly to search the Six Stars, a famous collection of rubies. However, soon enough the couple find out that they will have to live with the ghost of Donald McBride, the original plantation owner and Gene's uncle, as well as confronting a curse.
Crawlspace
Crawlspace (1986)
, 1h14
Directed by David Schmoeller
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Horror
Themes Serial killer films
Actors Klaus Kinski, Talia Balsam, David Schmoeller, Tané McClure
Roles Karl Gunther
Rating53% 2.6532952.6532952.6532952.6532952.653295
A young woman walks through the hallways of an apartment building, looking for "Mr. Gunther". She walks into a room in the attic and the door closes and locks behind her. Inside the room, she finds rats in cages, as well as a caged woman (Sally Brown). Karl Gunther (Klaus Kinski) appears and says of the caged woman: "She can't talk. I cut her tongue off." Karl presses a button and a blade is shoved through the woman's back and sticks out of her chest, killing her. Karl pricks his finger with a sharp object, and smears an inscribed bullet with his blood and loads it into a revolver. He points the gun to his head and the gun clicks. He puts the gun down and says: "So be it.
Creature
Creature (1985)
, 1h37
Origin USA
Genres Science fiction, Thriller, Horror
Actors Wendy Schaal, Lyman Ward, Stan Ivar, Klaus Kinski, Diane Salinger
Roles Hans Rudy Hofner
Rating44% 2.205452.205452.205452.205452.20545
In the film's prologue, two geological researchers for the American multinational corporation NTI encounter an ancient alien laboratory on the moon Titan. In the lab is an egg-like container which is keeping an alien creature alive. The creature emerges and kills the researchers. Two months later, the geologists' spaceship crashes into the space station Concorde in orbit around Earth's moon, its pilot having died in his seat.
Star Knight, 1h30
Genres Science fiction, Fantasy
Actors Klaus Kinski, Harvey Keitel, Fernando Rey, José Vivó, Miguel Bosé, Julieta Serrano
Roles Boetius
Rating40% 2.024772.024772.024772.024772.02477
Moyen-âge. Après l'invocation d'un mage, des animaux sont mystérieusement aspirés vers le ciel. Les villageois attribuent ces disparitions à un dragon, mais la vérité est ailleurs...
Commando Leopard, 1h40
Directed by Antonio Margheriti
Genres War, Action
Themes Seafaring films, Transport films, Political films, Films about Latin American military dictatorships
Actors Lewis Collins, Klaus Kinski, Luciano Pigozzi, John Steiner, Subas Herrero, Mike Monty
Roles Silveira
Rating50% 2.52562.52562.52562.52562.5256
In an unnamed Latin American dictatorship, a group of rebel freedom fighters fight to bring about a less oppressive society. The rebels, led by the enigmatic Enrique Carrasco (Collins) who has returned to his native land to fight, attack a hydro-electric dam. Along with Carrasco's native fighters are Smithy (Steiner), a British mercenary, and Maria, a native ex medical-student turned freedom fighter. After killing the security guards, Carrasco's men place explosives at a crucial point in the dam wall, when they blow the dam the resulting tidal surge destroys a nearby bridge that is carrying Government convoy.
The Little Drummer Girl, 2h10
Directed by George Roy Hill
Origin USA
Genres Thriller, Spy
Themes Spy films, Political films
Actors Diane Keaton, Klaus Kinski, Sami Frey, Thorley Walters, Eli Danker, Julian Firth
Roles Martin Kurtz
Rating60% 3.046463.046463.046463.046463.04646
Set in Europe and the Middle East, the plot follows the Mossad's clandestine attempt to flush out a PLO bomber named Khalil. To capture him, they kidnap and later kill his brother, then recruit an anti-Zionist American actress named Charlie to impersonate the dead man's girlfriend, hoping Khalil will contact her. Charlie does everything the Mossad asks of her, but as she goes deeply undercover, she questions just how far she should go before reaching a point where she is unable to escape.
Code Name: Wild Geese, 1h41
Directed by Antonio Margheriti
Origin German
Genres War, Action
Themes Medical-themed films, Films about drugs
Actors Lewis Collins, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Klaus Kinski, Mimsy Farmer, Luciano Pigozzi
Roles Charleton
Rating51% 2.5585752.5585752.5585752.5585752.558575
In Hong Kong, DEA man Fletcher (Borgnine) heads an operation to cut off the supply of opium to the west; to fund this operation Fletcher has found himself allied with wealthy American businessman Brenner.