Birthday Wishes to Klaus Maria Brandauer…Day 173 of Bond 365

Photo from Jacob Garner

I have to do a shout out to my friend and spyfi enthusiast Jacob Garner who sent me a photo of my book because it has been added to the book stacks available at the Misericordia University Library! So, if you are in the neighborhood, you can now check my book out from their library – and say hello to Jacob!

Klaus Maria Brandauer

Born this day in 1943

Maximilian Largo in Never Say Never Again

Klaus Georg Steng was born in Bad Aussee, Austria and studied music and drama at the Stuttgarter Hochschule. At the age of 23, he was cast in his first acting role in the drama titled Die Ballade von Packham Rye (1966), a West German/Austrian television movie. Brandauer preferred stage acting rather than working in films. However, Hungarian director Istvan Szabo changed Brandauer’s stance.

Klaus Maria Brandauer (Universitat Salzburg)

In 1981, he was cast as Hendrik Hoefgen in Mephisto, a period drama about a German stage actor who finds his most important performance is the one for the Nazi patrons that come to see him perform. The film, directed by Szabo, was based on the Klaus Mann novel. The film won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (Hungary) in 1982. Brandauer, Szabo and the film were honored with a number of nominations and wins from a variety of festivals. Szabo and Brandauer would work together again on Colonel Redl (1985) and Hanussen (1988).

A few years later, Brandauer was cast as Bror, opposite Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in the sweeping epic Out of Africa (1985). Brandauer received several nominations as best supporting actor, winning a Golden Globe.

Brandauer added director to his CV when he directed himself in Seven Minutes (1989). While he has continued in television and film, he has been performing on stage as well. His last tv project was with Die Ausloschung (2013), but according to IMDB, he’ll star in in Capelli Code as Frank Capelli, in what looks to be a crime mystery tv series set to broadcast next year.

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