30 Facts About Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski is best known for starring in five films directed by Werner Herzog from 1972 to 1987, who would later chronicle their tumultuous relationship in the documentary My Best Fiend.

Klaus Kinski's roles spanned multiple genres, languages, and nationalities, including Spaghetti Westerns, horror films, war films, dramas, and Edgar Wallace krimi films.

Klaus Kinski's infamy was elevated by a number of eccentric creative endeavors, including a one-man show based on the life of Jesus Christ, a biopic of violinist Niccolo Paganini directed by and starring himself, and over twenty spoken word albums.

Klaus Kinski Gunter Karl Nakszynski was born on 18 October 1926 in Zoppot, Free City of Danzig, to Polish-German parents.

Klaus Kinski's 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.

Klaus Kinski had three older siblings; Inge, Arne and Hans-Joachim.

Klaus Kinski was conscripted into the Wehrmacht in 1943 at the age of 17, serving in a unit.

Klaus Kinski 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.

Klaus 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.

Klaus Kinski remained healthy and was returned to Germany in 1946.

Klaus Kinski found work at other theater companies thereafter, but his emotional volatility regularly got him into trouble.

For three months in 1955, Klaus 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 Klaus Kinski once locked himself in the communal bathroom for 48 hours and broke everything in the room.

Klaus Kinski presented the prose and verse of Francois Villon, William Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, amongst others, and toured Austria, Germany, and Switzerland with his shows.

Klaus Kinski's first film role was a small part in the 1948 film Morituri.

Klaus Kinski appeared in several German Edgar Wallace movies, and had bit parts in the American war films Decision Before Dawn, A Time to Love and a Time to Die, and The Counterfeit Traitor.

Klaus Kinski's performance reflected post-war Germany's reluctance to take responsibility for what had happened during World War II.

Klaus Kinski relocated to Italy during the late 1960s, and found roles in numerous Spaghetti Westerns, including For a Few Dollars More, A Bullet for the General, The Great Silence, Twice A Judas, and A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe.

In one incident, Klaus 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.

In 1980, Klaus 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" and "moronically shitty".

Klaus 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.

Klaus Kinski co-starred in the science fiction television film Timestalkers with William Devane and Lauren Hutton.

Klaus Kinski married his first wife, singer Gislinde Kuhlbeck, in 1952.

Klaus Kinski married his third and final wife, model Minhoi Genevieve Loanic, in 1971.

Klaus Kinski published his autobiography, All I Need Is Love, in 1988.

In 1950, Klaus Kinski stayed at the Karl-Bonhoeffer-Nervenklinik, a psychiatric hospital in West Berlin, for three days after stalking his theatrical sponsor and attempting to strangle her.

Klaus Kinski soon became unable to secure film roles, and in 1955 he attempted suicide twice.

Klaus Kinski died on 23 November 1991 of a sudden heart attack at his home in Lagunitas, California; he was 65 years old.

Klaus Kinski's body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.

In 2006, Christian David published the first comprehensive biography of Klaus Kinski, based on newly discovered archived material, personal letters and interviews with the actor's friends and colleagues.