Maximilian Schell

Maximilian Schell (8 December 1930 – 1 February 2014) was a Swiss actor. Born in Austria, his parents were involved in the arts and he grew up surrounded by performance and literature. While he was still a child, his family fled to Switzerland in 1938 when Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, and they settled in Zürich. After World War II ended, Schell took up acting and directing full-time.

Schell won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing a lawyer in the legal drama Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). He was Oscar-nominated for playing a character with multiple identities in The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) and for playing a man resisting Nazism in Julia (1977). Fluent in both English and German, Schell earned top billing in a number of Nazi-era themed films. He acted in films such as Topkapi (1964), The Deadly Affair (1967), Counterpoint (1968), Simón Bolívar (1969), The Odessa File (1974), A Bridge Too Far (1977), and Deep Impact (1998).

On television, he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the NBC film Miss Rose White and the HBO television film Stalin (1992), the later of which earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. He also portrayed Otto Frank in the TV film The Diary of Anne Frank (1980), the Russian emperor Peter the Great in the NBC series Peter the Great (1986), Frederick the Great in the British series Young Catherine (1991), and Brother Jean le Maistre in the miniseries Joan of Arc (1999).

Schell also performed in a number of stage plays, including a celebrated performance as Prince Hamlet. Schell was an accomplished pianist and conductor, performing with Claudio Abbado and Leonard Bernstein, and with orchestras in Berlin and Vienna. His elder sister was the internationally noted actress Maria Schell; he produced the documentary tribute My Sister Maria in 2002.

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Filmography (149 Appearances)

Les brigands

2015

Jedermann Remixed

2011

Maximilian Schell - Ein sehnsüchtiger Rebell

2010

Im Gespräch mit Teddy Podgorski

2010

Black Flowers

2009

Darkness

2009

The Brothers Bloom

2008

Markus Lanz

2008

Imperium der Päpste

2008

The Shell Seekers

2007

Die Rosenkönigin

2007

Verstörung - und eine Art von Poesie. Die Filmlegende Bernhard Wicki

2007

Pilawas großes Geschichts-Quiz

2007

House of the Sleeping Beauties

2006

Die Alpenklinik

2006

Semperopernball

2006

Die Liebe eines Priesters

2005

G&G – Gesichter und Geschichten

2005

Servus, Hansi Hinterseer

2004

In Conversation: Abby Mann and Maximillian Schell

2004

Kulturplatz

2004

The Return of the Dancing Master

2004

Coast to Coast

2004

Alles Glück dieser Erde

2003

Der Fürst und das Mädchen

2003

Menschen bei Maischberger

2003

Der Bestseller - Mord auf italienisch

2002

Gero von Boehm begegnet...

2002

My Sister Maria

2002

Liebe, Lügen, Leidenschaften

2002

Festival in Cannes

2001

I Love You, Baby

2000

Just Messing About

2000

Joan of Arc

1999

On the Wings of Love

1999

Beckmann

1999

Vampires

1998

Deep Impact

1998

Left Luggage

1998

The Johannes B. Kerner Show

1998

Telling Lies in America

1997

Zwischen Rosen

1997

The Eighteenth Angel

1997

The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years

1996

The Vampyre Wars

1996

Abbado: The Silence that Follows the Music

1996

Die Harald Schmidt Show

1995

Lebens-Künstler

1995

Kulturzeit

1995

alfredissimo! Kochen mit Bio

1994

Little Odessa

1994

Abraham

1994

Abraham

1993

Candles in the Dark

1993

Justice

1993

A Far Off Place

1993

Stalin

1992

Miss Rose White

1992

Riverboat

1992

Labyrinth

1991

Why Havel?

1991

Young Catherine

1991

You Can't Live Like That

1990

The Freshman

1990

Romy Award

1990

The Rose Garden

1989

Seitenblicke

1987

Wiseguy

1987

Nachtcafé

1987

Showgeschichten

1986

Peter the Great

1986

The Assisi Underground

1985

To Be Hamlet

1985

Marlene

1984

Man Under Suspicion

1984

Goldene Kamera

1984

Les Îles

1983

The Phantom of the Opera

1983

Bernstein/Beethoven

1982

The Chosen

1981

The Diary of Anne Frank

1980

Heut' abend

1980

The Black Hole

1979

Together?

1979

Bavarian Film Awards

1979

Avalanche Express

1979

Players

1979

Tales from the Vienna Woods

1979

NDR Talk Show

1979

End of the Game

1978

Julia

1977

A Bridge Too Far

1977

Cross of Iron

1977

St. Ives

1976

Kölner Treff

1976

The Day That Shook the World

1975

People's Choice Awards

1975

The Man in the Glass Booth

1975

The Odessa File

1974

The Pedestrian

1973

Je später der Abend

1973

Pope Joan

1972

Paulina 1880

1972

V.I.P. Schaukel

1971

First Love

1970

Simón Bolívar

1969

Krakatoa, East of Java

1969

Heidi

1968

The Three Musketeers

1968

The Castle

1968

The Dick Cavett Show

1968

Counterpoint

1967

The Desperate Ones

1967

The Deadly Affair

1967

Die venezianischen Zwillinge

1966

John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums

1966

Return from the Ashes

1965

Der seidene Schuh

1965

Der seidene Schuh

1965

Topkapi

1964

Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

1963

The Reluctant Saint

1962

The Condemned of Altona

1962

Five Finger Exercise

1962

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

1961

Judgment at Nuremberg

1961

The Fifth Column

1960

Eine Dummheit macht auch der Gescheiteste

1959

Judgment at Nuremberg

1959

Stars in the Ring

1959

Die sechste Frau

1959

Die Bernauerin

1958

Children of the Mountains

1958

Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse

1958

The Young Lions

1958

Der Meisterdieb

1958

The Last Ones Shall Be First

1957

Taxichauffeur Bänz

1957

Ein Herz kehrt heim

1956

Playhouse 90

1956

Die Ehe des Dr. med. Danwitz

1956

The Girl from Flanders

1956

Ripening Youth

1955

The Plot to Assassinate Hitler

1955

Children, Mother, and the General

1955 Debut

The Oscars

1953

Hallmark Hall of Fame

1951

German Film Award

1951

Bambi

1948
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