Udo Kier's Real Name: Udo Kierspe

Quick answer: Udo Kier was born Udo Kierspe in Cologne, Germany, in 1944, according to AP and the Guardian. A Library of Congress record gives his birth date as October 14, 1944. AP, the Guardian, and DW report that he died on Sunday, November 23, 2025, in Palm Springs, California, at 81. Kier is a shortened form of his birth surname.

Real name and early life

AP says he was born as Allied forces bombed Cologne during World War II. The Guardian says that hours after his birth the hospital was bombed, and he and his mother had to be rescued from the ruins of the maternity ward. DW says his mother freed them both from the rubble. He told the Guardian in 2002 that his postwar childhood was "horrible" and that the family grew up poor.

DW says he trained as a wholesale clerk after school and then worked on a Ford assembly line. The Guardian says that at 16 he befriended the future director Rainer Werner Fassbinder in a working-class bar in Cologne. AP says he moved to London at 18, where singer and future filmmaker Michael Sarne discovered him in a coffee bar.

Career highlights

DW says his first film appearance was in the British comedy Road to St. Tropez (1966). His breakout came as the star of two films produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey: Flesh for Frankenstein (1973) and Blood for Dracula (1974). Fassbinder cast him in films including The Stationmaster's Wife, The Third Generation, and Lili Marleen, along with the miniseries Berlin Alexanderplatz.

AP says Gus Van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (1991) introduced him to many American moviegoers. Van Sant helped him get a U.S. work permit and a Screen Actors Guild card. Hollywood roles followed in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Johnny Mnemonic, Barb Wire, Blade, and Armageddon. Madonna featured him in her 1992 book Sex and her "Deeper and Deeper" video.

He worked often with Lars von Trier, on The Kingdom, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, Melancholia, and Nymphomaniac. DW says he won wide acclaim for his lead role as an aging gay hairdresser in Swan Song (2021). AP counted more than 200 credits; his last was the Brazilian thriller The Secret Agent (2025).

Death

AP says his partner, artist Delbert McBride, told Variety that Kier died on Sunday in Palm Springs, where he had lived since the early 1990s. The Guardian says he died in hospital and that no cause of death was given.

Name notes for searchers

Kier was his professional surname, shortened from Kierspe. Searches for Udo Kierspe refer to the same actor. DW notes that he was also a serious art collector and a friend of David Hockney.