Maximilian Schell
Encyclopedia
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor
for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg
in 1961. He is also a writer, director and producer of several films.
, Austria
, the son of Margarethe (née Noe von Nordberg), an actress who ran an acting school, and Hermann Ferdinand Schell, a Swiss poet, novelist, playwright, and owner of a pharmacy. His parents were Roman Catholics. Schell's late elder sister, Maria Schell
, was also an actress; as are their two other siblings, Carl and Immy (Immaculata) Schell. The Schell family moved to Zurich
, Switzerland in 1938, where young Maximilian went on to serve in the Swiss Army, achieving the rank of corporal
. He began acting at the Basel Theater.
film The Young Lions
. In 1959, he appeared as Hans Rolfe, the defense attorney, in a live Playhouse 90
television production of Judgment at Nuremberg
. In 1961, he reprised the role on film, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor
. 1974's The Pedestrian
, which Schell wrote, produced, directed, and starred in, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
.
Schell refused to be typecast
. Although he was top billed in a number of Nazi
-era themed films as The Man in the Glass Booth
; Counterpoint
(1968); A Bridge Too Far; Cross of Iron
; The Odessa File
; Julia; and Judgment at Nuremberg
, he also played more diverse characters in Krakatoa, East of Java
; The Black Hole
; The Freshman
; John Carpenter's Vampires; Topkapi
; Stalin; Candles in the Dark
; Erste Liebe; Deep Impact
; and the television miniseries, Peter the Great
(1986), which co-starred Vanessa Redgrave
and Laurence Olivier
.
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 television miniseries The Return of the Dancing Master
(2004), which was based on Henning Mankell
's novel.
In addition to his international film career, Schell has been active as director, writer and actor in European theatre, making his stage debut in 1952, three years before his first cinematic role. In 1972 he starred as 'Deeley' in Peter Hall's German language premiére of Harold Pinter
's Old Times
at the Burgtheater
in Vienna.
In 1977 he directed Tales from the Vienna Woods at the National Theatre in London. In 2006 he appeared in Arthur Miller
's Resurrection Blues
directed by Robert Altman
in London at the Old Vic
. Schell has also served as a writer, producer and director for a variety of films, including the documentary film
Marlene
(1984) with the participation of Marlene Dietrich
that won several awards. In 2002, he released My Sister Maria, a documentary about his late sister Maria Schell
.
, though the wedding never happened. He married the Russian
actress Natalya Andrejchenko, whom he met on the set of Peter the Great
. They have one daughter, Nastassja Schell (b. 1989). He was also reported to have had an affair with Neile Adams McQueen, the wife of actor Steve McQueen
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.
Schell is the godfather
of actress Angelina Jolie
, daughter of his The Odessa File co-star Jon Voight
and Marcheline Bertrand
.
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
in 1961. He is also a writer, director and producer of several films.
Early life
Schell was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, the son of Margarethe (née Noe von Nordberg), an actress who ran an acting school, and Hermann Ferdinand Schell, a Swiss poet, novelist, playwright, and owner of a pharmacy. His parents were Roman Catholics. Schell's late elder sister, Maria Schell
Maria Schell
Maria Margarethe Anna Schell was an Austrian/Swiss actress, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival in 1956 for Gervaise....
, was also an actress; as are their two other siblings, Carl and Immy (Immaculata) Schell. The Schell family moved to Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, Switzerland in 1938, where young Maximilian went on to serve in the Swiss Army, achieving the rank of corporal
Corporal
Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....
. He began acting at the Basel Theater.
Career
Schell made his Hollywood debut in 1958 in the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
film The Young Lions
The Young Lions
The Young Lions is a 1958 war drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk, based upon the 1949 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw, and starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin.-Outline:...
. In 1959, he appeared as Hans Rolfe, the defense attorney, in a live Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
television production of Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
. In 1961, he reprised the role on film, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
. 1974's The Pedestrian
The Pedestrian (film)
The Pedestrian is a 1973 film directed by Maximilian Schell. It is about the trial of an elderly war criminal. The film was a co-production between companies in Germany, Switzerland and Israel.-Cast:*Peggy Ashcroft - Lady Gray...
, which Schell wrote, produced, directed, and starred in, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
Schell refused to be typecast
Typecasting (acting)
In TV, film, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character; one or more particular roles; or, characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ethnic groups...
. Although he was top billed in a number of Nazi
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
-era themed films as The Man in the Glass Booth
The Man in the Glass Booth
The Man in the Glass Booth is a 1975 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay was adapted from Robert Shaw's 1967 novel and 1968 stage play, both of the same name. The plot was inspired by images of the trial of Adolf Eichmann....
; Counterpoint
Counterpoint (1968 film)
Counterpoint is an 1968 epic war film starring Charlton Heston, Maximilian Schell, and Leslie Nielsen. It is based on the novel The General by Alan Sillitoe.-Plot:...
(1968); A Bridge Too Far; Cross of Iron
Cross of Iron
Cross of Iron is a 1977 war film directed by Sam Peckinpah, featuring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner. The film is set on the Eastern Front in World War II during the Soviet's Caucasus operations that forced the Wehrmacht to retreat from the Taman Peninsula on the...
; The Odessa File
The ODESSA File (film)
The Odessa File is a 1974 film adaptation of the thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, about a struggle between a young German reporter and the ODESSA, an organization for ex-Nazis. The film stars Jon Voight and was directed by Ronald Neame, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.- Plot :The plot opens...
; Julia; and Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg
Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
, he also played more diverse characters in Krakatoa, East of Java
Krakatoa, East of Java
Krakatoa, East of Java is a movie starring Maximilian Schell and Brian Keith. This film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.-Plot:...
; The Black Hole
The Black Hole
The Black Hole is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson for Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine, while the voices of the main robot characters are provided by Roddy...
; The Freshman
The Freshman (1990 film)
The Freshman is a 1990 American crime comedy film starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, in which Brando parodies his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather....
; John Carpenter's Vampires; Topkapi
Topkapi (film)
Topkapi is a heist film made by Filmways Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by the emigre American film director, Jules Dassin...
; Stalin; Candles in the Dark
Candles in the Dark
Candles in the Dark is a 1993 made for television Christmas film directed by Maximilian Schell.-Plot:When her father thinks she is too spoiled, he sends Sylvia to her aunt in Estonia. She soon find her self engulfed in a struggle with her father, and finds herself being hunted by the KGB.Meanwhile,...
; Erste Liebe; Deep Impact
Deep Impact (film)
Deep Impact is a 1998 science-fiction disaster-drama film released by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks in the United States on May 8, 1998. The film was directed by Mimi Leder and stars Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, Téa Leoni, and Morgan Freeman...
; and the television miniseries, Peter the Great
Peter the Great (TV Series)
Peter the Great is a 1986 NBC television mini-series starring Maximilian Schell as Russian leader Peter the Great, and based on the biography by Robert K. Massie. It won three Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Miniseries....
(1986), which co-starred Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
and Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
.
Since the 1990s, Schell has appeared in many German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
made-for-TV films, such as the 2003 film Alles Glück dieser Erde (All the Luck in the World) opposite Uschi Glas
Uschi Glas
Uschi Glas is a German film and television actress.Born in Landau, Bavaria, Glas started appearing in films in 1965...
and in the television miniseries The Return of the Dancing Master
The Return of the Dancing Master
The Return of the Dancing Master is a 2000 novel by Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell. It was translated into English in 2003 by Laurie Thompson, and won the 2005 Gumshoe Award for Best European Crime Novel, presented by Mystery Ink....
(2004), which was based on Henning Mankell
Henning Mankell
Henning Mankell is a Swedish crime writer, children's author, leftist activist and dramatist, best known for a series of mystery novels starring his most famous creation, Inspector Kurt Wallander.-Life and career:...
's novel.
In addition to his international film career, Schell has been active as director, writer and actor in European theatre, making his stage debut in 1952, three years before his first cinematic role. In 1972 he starred as 'Deeley' in Peter Hall's German language premiére of Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
's Old Times
Old Times
Old Times is a play by the Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. It was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych Theatre in London on June 1, 1971. It starred Colin Blakely, Dorothy Tutin, and Vivien Merchant, and was directed by Peter Hall...
at the Burgtheater
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...
in Vienna.
In 1977 he directed Tales from the Vienna Woods at the National Theatre in London. In 2006 he appeared in Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
's Resurrection Blues
Resurrection Blues
Resurrection Blues is Arthur Miller's penultimate play. Though Miller was not known for his humor, this play uses a pointed comedic edge to intensify his observations about the dangers, as well as the benefits, of blind belief: political, religious, economic and emotional.-Plot:The story is set in...
directed by Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
in London at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
. Schell has also served as a writer, producer and director for a variety of films, including the documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Marlene
Marlene (1984 film)
Marlene, also known in Germany as Marlene Dietrich - Porträt eines Mythos is a 1984 documentary film made by Maximilian Schell about the legendary film star Marlene Dietrich...
(1984) with the participation of Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
that won several awards. In 2002, he released My Sister Maria, a documentary about his late sister Maria Schell
Maria Schell
Maria Margarethe Anna Schell was an Austrian/Swiss actress, who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival in 1956 for Gervaise....
.
Personal life
In the mid 1960s, Schell reportedly was engaged to the fashion model Donyale LunaDonyale Luna
Donyale Luna was an American model and cover girl. She also appeared in several films, in Camp by Andy Warhol, Qui êtes-vous, Polly Maggoo? by William Klein, as Groucho Marx's companion in Otto Preminger's Skidoo, and most notably as Oenothea in Federico Fellini's Satyricon and as the title...
, though the wedding never happened. He married the Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
actress Natalya Andrejchenko, whom he met on the set of Peter the Great
Peter the Great (TV Series)
Peter the Great is a 1986 NBC television mini-series starring Maximilian Schell as Russian leader Peter the Great, and based on the biography by Robert K. Massie. It won three Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Miniseries....
. They have one daughter, Nastassja Schell (b. 1989). He was also reported to have had an affair with Neile Adams McQueen, the wife of actor Steve McQueen
In 2000, he collapsed and was diagnosed with pancreatitis
Pancreas
The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as a digestive organ, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that assist...
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.
Schell is the godfather
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
of actress Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
, daughter of his The Odessa File co-star Jon Voight
Jon Voight
Jonathan Vincent "Jon" Voight is an American actor. He has received an Academy Award, out of four nominations, and three Golden Globe Awards, out of nine nominations. Voight is the father of actress Angelina Jolie....
and Marcheline Bertrand
Marcheline Bertrand
Marcia Lynne "Marcheline" Bertrand was an American actress and producer. She also co-founded the All Tribes Foundation, to culturally and economically benefit Native Americans, and the Give Love Give Life organization, to raise public awareness of women's cancers. Bertrand was the former wife of...
.
Filmography
- The Last Ones Shall Be FirstThe Last Ones Shall Be FirstThe Last Ones Shall Be First is a 1957 German crime film directed by Rolf Hansen. It was entered into the 7th Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* O. E...
(1957) - The Young LionsThe Young LionsThe Young Lions is a 1958 war drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk, based upon the 1949 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw, and starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin.-Outline:...
(1958) - Kinder, Mütter und ein General (1959)
- Judgment at NurembergJudgment at NurembergJudgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy...
(1961) - The Reluctant SaintThe Reluctant SaintThe Reluctant Saint is a 1962 film which tells a somewhat fictionalized version of the story of Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th Century Italian saint. It stars Maximilian Schell as Joseph, as well as Ricardo Montalban, Lea Padovani, Akim Tamiroff, and Harold Goldblatt...
(1962) - The Condemned of AltonaThe Condemned of Altona (film)The Condemned of Altona is a 1962 Italian-French drama film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It is based on the play of the same name by Jean-Paul Sartre.-Cast:* Sophia Loren - Johanna* Maximilian Schell - Franz* Fredric March - Albrecht von Gerlach...
(1962) - TopkapiTopkapi (film)Topkapi is a heist film made by Filmways Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by the emigre American film director, Jules Dassin...
(1964) - Return from the AshesReturn from the AshesReturn from the Ashes is a 1965 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson. The film stars Ingrid Thulin, Herbert Lom, Maximillian Schell, and Samantha Eggar.-Plot:...
(1965) - The Deadly AffairThe Deadly AffairThe Deadly Affair is a 1966 British espionage–thriller film, based on John le Carré's first novel Call for the Dead. The film stars James Mason, Harry Andrews, Simone Signoret and Maximilian Schell and was directed by Sidney Lumet from a script by Paul Dehn. In it George Smiley, the central...
(1966) - The CastleThe Castle (1968 film)The Castle is a 1968 West German film directed by Rudolf Noelte and starring Maximilian Schell, Cordula Trantow, Trudik Daniel and Helmut Qualtinger. It is based on the 1926 eponymous novel by Franz Kafka. It was chosen as West Germany's official submission to the 44th Academy Awards for Best...
(1968) - CounterpointCounterpoint (1968 film)Counterpoint is an 1968 epic war film starring Charlton Heston, Maximilian Schell, and Leslie Nielsen. It is based on the novel The General by Alan Sillitoe.-Plot:...
(1968) - HeidiHeidiHeidi is a Swiss work of fiction, published in two parts as Heidi's years of learning and travel and Heidi makes use of what she has learned.It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps...
(1968) - Simón Bolívar (1969)
- Krakatoa, East of JavaKrakatoa, East of JavaKrakatoa, East of Java is a movie starring Maximilian Schell and Brian Keith. This film was nominated for Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.-Plot:...
(1969) - Erste Liebe (First Love) (1971)
- "Pope Joan (1972 film)Pope Joan (1972 film)Pope Joan is a 1972 British drama film based on the story of Pope Joan.. It was directed by Michael Anderson and has a cast which includes Liv Ullmann , Olivia de Havilland, Lesley-Anne Down, Franco Nero and Maximillian Schell....
" (1972) - The Pedestrian (film)The Pedestrian (film)The Pedestrian is a 1973 film directed by Maximilian Schell. It is about the trial of an elderly war criminal. The film was a co-production between companies in Germany, Switzerland and Israel.-Cast:*Peggy Ashcroft - Lady Gray...
(1973) - The Odessa FileThe ODESSA File (film)The Odessa File is a 1974 film adaptation of the thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth, about a struggle between a young German reporter and the ODESSA, an organization for ex-Nazis. The film stars Jon Voight and was directed by Ronald Neame, with a score by Andrew Lloyd Webber.- Plot :The plot opens...
(1974) - The Day That Shook the WorldThe Day That Shook the WorldThe Day That Shook the World is the English language title for the 1975 Czechoslovakian/Yugoslavian/German co-production film called Sarajevski atentat...
(1975) - Der Richter und sein HenkerDer Richter und sein HenkerDer Richter und sein Henker is a novella by the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt written in 1950 and first published in English in 1954, in a translation by Cyrus Brooks and later in a translation by Therese Pol. A new translation by Joel Agee appeared in 2006, published together with Suspicion ...
(1975) - The Man in the Glass BoothThe Man in the Glass BoothThe Man in the Glass Booth is a 1975 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay was adapted from Robert Shaw's 1967 novel and 1968 stage play, both of the same name. The plot was inspired by images of the trial of Adolf Eichmann....
(1975) - St. IvesSt. Ives (1976 film)St. Ives is a 1976 American action film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Charles Bronson.- Plot summary :Abner Procane, top L.A. burglar, finds that somebody stole his plans for his next ambitious heist. He hires Raymond St. Ives, crime books writer, to negotiate the return of those...
(1976) - Cross of IronCross of IronCross of Iron is a 1977 war film directed by Sam Peckinpah, featuring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner. The film is set on the Eastern Front in World War II during the Soviet's Caucasus operations that forced the Wehrmacht to retreat from the Taman Peninsula on the...
(1977) - Julia (1977)
- A Bridge Too Far (1977)
- The Black HoleThe Black HoleThe Black Hole is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Gary Nelson for Walt Disney Productions. The film stars Maximilian Schell, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux, Anthony Perkins, and Ernest Borgnine, while the voices of the main robot characters are provided by Roddy...
(1979) - The Diary of Anne Frank (1980)
- The ChosenThe Chosen (film)The Chosen is a 1981 drama film directed by Jeremy Kagan, based on the bestselling book of the same name by Chaim Potok published in 1967. It stars Maximilian Schell and Rod Steiger. It won three awards at the 1981 Montréal World Film Festival.-Plot:...
(1981) - The Phantom of the Opera (1983)
- Man Under SuspicionMan Under SuspicionMan Under Suspicion is a 1984 West German film directed by Norbert Kückelmann.-Cast:* Maximilian Schell as Lawyer Landau* Lena Stolze as Jessica Kranz* Robert Aldini as Werner Kranz* Wolfgang Kieling as Reporter 'Watergate'...
(1984) - Peter the GreatPeter the Great (TV Series)Peter the Great is a 1986 NBC television mini-series starring Maximilian Schell as Russian leader Peter the Great, and based on the biography by Robert K. Massie. It won three Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award for Outstanding Miniseries....
(1986) - The Rosegarden (1989)
- The FreshmanThe Freshman (1990 film)The Freshman is a 1990 American crime comedy film starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, in which Brando parodies his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather....
(1990) - Young CatherineYoung CatherineYoung Catherine is a 1991 American TV miniseries based on the early life of Catherine II of Russia. It stars Julia Ormond as Catherine and Vanessa Redgrave as Empress Elizabeth....
(1991) - Candles In The DarkCandles in the DarkCandles in the Dark is a 1993 made for television Christmas film directed by Maximilian Schell.-Plot:When her father thinks she is too spoiled, he sends Sylvia to her aunt in Estonia. She soon find her self engulfed in a struggle with her father, and finds herself being hunted by the KGB.Meanwhile,...
(1991) - Justiz (1993)
- A Far Off PlaceA Far Off PlaceA Far Off Place is a Walt Disney Pictures and Amblin Entertainment film from 1993, starring Reese Witherspoon, Ethan Randall, Jack Thompson and Maximilian Schell. The filming locations were in Namibia and Zimbabwe...
(1993) - Little OdessaLittle OdessaLittle Odessa is an American crime film released in 1994 by James Gray, featuring Tim Roth, Edward Furlong, Moira Kelly and Vanessa Redgrave.The film earned a Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Critic Prize at the Deauville Film Festival...
(1994) - AbrahamAbrahamAbraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
(1994) - The Eighteenth Angel (1996)
- Left Luggage (film)Left Luggage (film)Left Luggage is a 1998 Dutch film directed by Jeroen Krabbé.-Plot:While escaping from Nazis during WWII, a Jewish man buries two suitcases full of things dear to his heart in the ground. The war deprived him of his family, and afterwards he endlessly turns over the soil of Antwerp to find the...
(1998) - John Carpenter's Vampires (1998)
- Deep ImpactDeep Impact (film)Deep Impact is a 1998 science-fiction disaster-drama film released by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks in the United States on May 8, 1998. The film was directed by Mimi Leder and stars Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, Téa Leoni, and Morgan Freeman...
(1998) - Joan of Arc (1999)
- I Love You, Baby"(2000)
- Coast to CoastCoast to Coast (TV film)Coast to Coast is 2003 television movie starring Richard Dreyfuss, Judy Davis, and Selma Blair, and directed by Paul Mazursky. It is based on the novel by Frederic Raphael, who also wrote film's screenplay...
(2004) - The Shell SeekersThe Shell Seekers (mini-series)The Shell Seekers is a 2006 mini-series starring Academy Award-winners, Vanessa Redgrave and Maximilian Schell. The British-German co-production was directed by Piers Haggard. It is an adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's 1987 novel-of-the-same-name and premiered on Germany's ZDF on December 25th,...
(2006) - The House of Sleeping BeautiesThe House of Sleeping BeautiesThe House of Sleeping Beauties is a 1983 play by American playwright David Henry Hwang. Hwang's fourth play, it is an adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's novella House of the Sleeping Beauties. The play depicts Kawabata and how he might have come to have written the novella...
(2008) - The Shell Seekers (2008)
- The Brothers Bloom (2008)
Academy Awards and nominations
- 1961 – Won – Best Actor in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
– Judgment at NurembergJudgment at NurembergJudgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American drama film dealing with the Holocaust and the Post-World War II Nuremberg Trials. It was written by Abby Mann, directed by Stanley Kramer, and starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy... - 1970 – Nominated –Academy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language FilmThe Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
- First LoveFirst Love (1970 film)First Love is a 1970 film, written, directed, and starred in by Austrian director Maximilian Schell. It is an adaptation of Ivan Turgenev's homonymous novella starring Schell, Dominique Sanda, and John Moulder-Brown.-Cast:*John Moulder-Brown as Alexander... - 1976 – Nominated – Best Actor in a Leading RoleAcademy Award for Best ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
– The Man in the Glass BoothThe Man in the Glass BoothThe Man in the Glass Booth is a 1975 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller. The screenplay was adapted from Robert Shaw's 1967 novel and 1968 stage play, both of the same name. The plot was inspired by images of the trial of Adolf Eichmann.... - 1978 – Nominated – Best Actor in a Supporting RoleAcademy Award for Best Supporting ActorPerformance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
– Julia - 1985 – Nominated – Academy Award for Documentary FeatureAcademy Award for Documentary FeatureThe Academy Award for Documentary Feature is among the most prestigious awards for documentary films.- Winners and nominees:Following the Academy's practice, films are listed below by the award year...
– Marlene