Klaus Kinski was born as Klaus Günter Karl Nakszynski in Zoppot, Free City of Danzig clashes between Kinski and his producers, who accused him of turning their movie into a pornographic film and sued him in court. His autobiography, "All I Need is Love", a vicious attack on the film industry, was withdrawn for legal reasons and subsequently re-released as "Kinski Uncut" in the US & UK, "Ich brauche Liebe" in Germany, and in various other languages.
Father, with Ruth Tocki, of actress Nastassja Kinski.
Father of actress Pola Kinski.
Father of actor Nikolai Kinski.
His autobiography was originally released under the title "All I Need Is Love", but was withdrawn in 1989 due to a contract dispute: a German publisher claimed Kinski had previously released an autobiography for them entitled "Ich, Kinski", and sued the publishers. It was reissued in 1997 under the title "Kinski Uncut", adding material that had been excluded from the first version of the book.
For a brief time he lived in an apartment in Munich (Elisabethstrae 3) which he shared with several other people. One of the children living there was thirteen-year-old Werner Herzog. They later collaborated on five movies: Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes , Woyzeck , Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht , Fitzcarraldo and Cobra Verde .
Grandchildren: Aljosha, Sonja and Kenya.
His countenance and screen persona gave his film career a boost in the 1960s when he was cast in a number of German productions based upon the thrillers of Edgar Wallace.
Uncle of actress Lara Lamberti.
Son of Bruno Nakszynski, a Polish-German pharmacist, and his wife Susanne Lutze, daughter of a German pastor from Danzig.
Of his three children, only his son Nikolai Kinski attended the funeral in California, where his ashes were strewn in the Pacific Ocean (February 1992).
Turned down the role of a German villain in Raiders of the Lost Ark , although he wanted to do a movie with Steven Spielberg , but thought "the script is as moronically shitty as so many other flicks of its ilk.".
His provocative 1977 TV appearance on "Je spter der Abend..." became legendary because he didnt answer a single question during an interview and called the host Reinhard Mnchenhagen "Herr Mnchhausen".
He was honored by his city of birth, Sopot.
His father was an apothecary and allegedly also an opera singer who died, as did his mother, during the Second World War.
He was offered a part in Hammers last movie To the Devil a Daughter , but turned it down as his scenes would take more than ten days to shoot.
Was announced to play Dr. Hans Fallanda in Lifeforce , but dropped out. Was also considered for Bukovsky as well.
Brother-in-law of Tommy Kent.
In 2013, daughter Pola Kinski published her Autobiography "Kindermund" in Germany, in which she accuses her father of sexual abuse between the ages of 5 and 19.
He worked with Christopher Lee in Das Geheimnis der gelben Narzissen , Das Rtsel der roten Orchidee , Circus of Fear , Five Golden Dragons and Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht . His daughter Nastassja Kinski later worked with Lee in To the Devil a Daughter .
He appeared in two adaptations of Bram Stoker s 1897 novel "Dracula". He played Renfield in Nachts, wenn Dracula erwacht and Count Dracula in Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht .
In his long career Klaus Kinski worked together in films with 11 Academy Award winning actors (Maximilian Schell , Ernest Borgnine , Christopher Plummer , Walter Matthau , Jack Lemmon , Diane Keaton , Anjelica Huston , Susan Sarandon , Julie Christie , Rod Steiger and Alec Guinness ) and 3 Academy Award winning directors.
The French government declared him a Commandeur de lOrdre des Arts et des Lettres on the 5th Februar 1986, one the highest honors for a foreign artist.
According to Kinski, he rejected offers to work with Pier Paolo Pasolini , Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti because the salaries were too low.
Although better known for many B-movies during his career, he also worked together with famous film directors, most notably David Lean , Billy Wilder , George Roy Hill , Sergio Leone and Werner Herzog. Other award-winning directors included Douglas Sirk , Damiano Damiani , James Toback , Andrzej Zulawski , Frank Cassenti , Giuliano Montaldo , Laslo Benedek , Fritz Kortner and Helmut Kutner. Among Kinskis films two were even nominated as Best Picture / Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards: Doctor Zhivago and Mivtsa Yonatan .
I choose films with the shortest schedule and the most money.
Wer mich beleidigt, entscheide ich. [I decide who offends me. ],So I sell myself, for the highest price. Exactly like a prostitute.
There is no difference.
Making movies is better than cleaning toilets.
I never said money is freedom! I said money buys freedom. BUYS! What,does that mean, money is freedom? This is ridiculous: Money is freedom.
It means nothing. What do you think, that a dollar in a savings account,is freedom? Maybe you have understood nothing I have said. You are,trying to make me sound like an American average citizen.
We shaved the jungle and made a stinking camp in the middle of it.
Radios blaring. It was disgusting.
Sometimes, my heart hurts so much, I beat it with my fists. I try to,run. But you cannot run away from this. You cannot run from it.
Wherever you run, it waits for you. Even when you think you have,escaped it, it is there, where you have run to. It waits for you, to,ambush you. It is like those vines called lianas, those tropical,creepers that grow around you and strangle you. You cut off one branch,but there is another that grows. You leap over the wall of one ghetto,and find yourself in another ghetto.
I felt like I was breaking out, breaking up, receiving everything,every moment, even things I did not see. There is no turning back from,this. But this danger is the power you have. It is this same power that,lets you hold an audience when you are on a stage. Then it is a,concentration, the same concentration that in kung fu is used for the,kick that kills or to break a table with your hand. It means that you,are sure of the power and that you relinquish yourself to it,The ultimate acting is to destroy yourself.
Sometimes my heart hurts so much, I beat it with my fists. I try to run. But you cannot run from this. It waits for you. Even when you think you have escaped it, it is there.
I am your fairy tale. Your dream. Your wishes and desires, and I am your thirst and your hunger and your food and your drink.
I am not the Jesus of the official church tolerated by those in power. I am not your superstar.
The truth is, I can never die. For I will be in everything and see you in everything and watch over you. I am your reaction in the water of a mountain lake. .
