Klaus Maria BrandauerBirth Place: Alt Aussee, Austria Date of Birth: June 22, 1943 Heritage: Austrian Famous for: His role in 'Mephisto' (1981) Contact Klaus Maria Brandauer | 
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Out of Africa Background: Oscar nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning Austrian actor and film director who has acted in German, Hungarian, English and French language films Klaus Maria Brandauer first came to fame for his award-winning performance as German actor Hendrik Hofgen on Istvan Szabo's Oscar-winning, “Mephisto” (1981), his first of three films with the Hungarian director. The praised player achieved even more recognition and prominence with his Academy Award-nominating turn as Meryl Streep's neer-do-well husband in “Out of Africa” (1985), directed by the Oscar winner Sydney Pollack. Brandauer's splendid scene-stealing role also won the compact, burly, stage-trained actor a Golden Globe Award, a National Board of Review Award, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, a New York Film Critics Circle Award as well as a BAFTA nomination. Brandauer is also well-remembered for playing roles in such movies as the James Bond film Never Say Never Again” (1983, starred Sean Connery), “Colonel Redl” (1985), “Burning Secret” (1988), “Hanussen” (1988), “The Russia House” (1990, again with Connery), “Rembrandt” (1999) and “Vercingétorix” (2001). On the small screen, the contemporary German-speaking actor is perhaps best known to American public as Otto Preminger on the HBO film “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge” (1999), from which he picked up a Golden Globe nomination. As a director, Brandauer made an auspicious debut with “Seven Minutes/Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland” (1989), which received acclaim in Germany. Also starring in the film as Elser, he won a Fantafestival Award and a Guild of German Art House Cinemas. Other directorial credits include the award-winning “Mario and the Magician” (1994) and “Wand, Die” (1999). Outside of his film, theater and TV work, Brandauer is a pedagogue. He is a professor at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, Austria. His autobiography, “Bleiben tu' ich mir nich,” written in German, was published in 1991. Brandauer was the head of jury at the 1987 Berlin International Film Festival and member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1989. On a more personal note, Brandauer and his late wife, director Karin Brandauer, whom he married in 1963 to her death in 1992, had one son, Christian. He has written score for films directed by his father. Currently, Brandauer is married to Natalie Krenn.
Childhood and Family: Son of Georg Steng and Maria Brandauer, Klaus Georg Steng was born on June 22, 1943, in Bad Aussee, Austria. He later took his mother's maiden name as his stage name. Raised in West Germany, Klaus attended the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Stuttgart, but dropped out after only a year in 1963. He holds a Honorary Doctorate from the University of Tel Aviv, Israel. Klaus married Austrian director Karin Brandauer in 1963. His wife died on November 13, 1992 because of cancer. They had a son together named Christian Brandauer. Klaus is now the husband of Natalie Krenn, whom he married on July 6, 2007. He resides in New York and Bad Aussee, Vienna, his hometown.
Career: Klaus Maria Brandauer started his stage career in 1962, making his debut in the production of “The Madwoman of Chaillot.” After leaving his studies, the Austrian native performed with such renowned repertory companies as Dusseldorf and Tubingen until 1970, when he joined Burgtheater (the National Theater of Austria), one of the most famous theaters in Vienna, where he served both as an actor and director. Thanks for his versatility and attractiveness on stage, Brandauer quickly became one of the best known stage performers in the German-speaking world. After working in national theater and television, Brandauer made his feature film acting debut as a villain named Johann Kronsteiner in Lee H Katzin's “The Salzburg Connection” (1972), based on a novel by Helen MacInnes. However, he subsequently departed the big screen due to his satisfaction with the end of product, and did not make his return until seven years later in the 1979 Hungarian film “A Sunday in October,” opposite Ferenc Bács. Brandauer's big breakthrough arrived in when he was cast in the leading role of Hendrik Hofgen, a determined young actor adopted by the Nazi party during the 1930s, on Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's “Mephisto” (1981). The acclaimed drama won a 1982 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and Brandauer himself picked up a David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor and a Jussi for Best Foreign Filmmaker, as well as a BAFTA nomination for Most Outstanding Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. The success launched Brandauer's international career. Following his compelling performance in “Mephisto,” Brandauer was flooded numerous offers, mainly for stereotypical heavies, SS Generals and the like. He turned down all, but accepted a challenging role as James Bond's arch rival Maximilian Largo on the 1983 Bond thriller “Never Say Never Again,” starring Sean Connery as 007. Brandauer's international gained additional boost with his performance in the film. In 1985, the actor rejoined with Szabo for “Colonel Redl,” a biographical film telling the rise and fall of Alfred Redl (played by Brandauer). For his bright turn as an ambitious, homosexual soldier in pre-WWI Austria, he netted a Film Award in Gold for Outstanding Individual Achievement from the German Film, and a Guild of German Art House Cinemas. Later that same year, Brandauer was tapped to portray the supporting role of Bror Blixen on the Sydney Pollack-directed “Out of Africa.” Delivering a spectacular performance as the philandering husband of writer Isak Dinesen (played by Meryl Streep), he achieved critical praise and an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The role also brought the noted actor a Golden Globe Award, a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, a National Board of Review Award, a New York Film Critics Circle Award and a BAFTA nomination. Next, Brandauer costarred with Tom Bower in the drama “The Lightship” (1986), starred as a Russian expatriate on the Joe Roth boxing melodrama “Streets of Gold” (1986) and offered a bright turn as pleasing amoral baron and World War I vet on the old-fashioned melodrama “Burning Secret” (1988), from which he took home a Bavarian Film for Best Actor (Darstellerpreis). Also in 1988, he reunited with Szabo to complete their trilogy in “Hanussen,” in which Brandauer played the titular soldier. For his fine effort, he was handed a 1991 Golden Camera and a European Film nomination for Best Actor. Brandauer closed the decade by making his directorial debut with “Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland/Seven Minutes” (1989), starring himself in the title character. Based on the true story of a watchmaker who plotted to assassinate Hitler, the drama film received kudos in Germany. As for his performance, Brandauer nabbed a Fantafestival for Best Actor and a Guild of German Art House Cinemas. Brandauer's work became sporadic in the 1990s. In 1990, he took on a small but important role as a Soviet scientist in Fred Schepisi's “The Russia House,” which reunited him with Connery. He shared top bill with Ethan Hawke in “White Fang” (1991), adapted from a book by Jack London, starred as notorious bachelor Henri Gauthier-Villars on the drama “Becoming Colette” (1992) before returning to the director's chair for “Mario and the Magician” (1994), which he also scripted and starred in as Cipolla. The film won Brandauer a Andrei Tarkovsky Award from the Moscow International Film Festival and a Guild of German Art House Cinemas. After five years absence, he revisited the big screen playing Dutch Master Rembrandt van Rijn on the French-language “Rembrandt” (1999), directed by Charles Matton. Still in 1999, a TV veteran in his native of Austria, he made his American TV debut in the HBO drama/music “Introducing Dorothy Dandridge,” where he memorably portrayed Otto Preminger and received a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination for his performance. Among his costars in the TV film were Halle Berry, Brent Spiner, Obba Babatundé and Loretta Devine. Brandauer continued to star in such films as “Belief, Hope and Blood” (2000), Erik Gustavson's “Dykaren” (2000, with Izabella Scorupco), “Vercingétorix” (2001, opposite Christopher Lambert), Fritz Lehner's “Everyman's Feast” (2002), the Edoardo Ponti-directed/written “Between Strangers” (2002, with Sophia Loren, Mira Sorvino and Deborah Kara Unger), “Entrusted” (2003, TV) and “Entführung aus dem Serail, Die” (2003, TV). In 2006, he was cast as Emperor Franz-Joseph on the made-for-TV film “Kronprinz Rudolf.” The 65-year-old performer will costar with Sebastian Koch in the German drama/thriller “The Interrogation of Harry Wind” (2008), playing Urs Rappold. He also has a starring role on the upcoming based-on-novel drama “Maestro” (2008), about a young pianist (played by Tom Sturridge) and his piano teacher (played by Brandauer). The Australian film is directed by Catherine Jarvis.
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