Maximilian Schell

Born

December 8, 1930

Died

February 1, 2014 (aged 83)

Known as

film director, film producer, autobiographer, screenwriter, stage actor, film actor

Maximilian Schell was a Swiss actor, theatre director, Maximilian Schell was born on December 8, 1930, in Vienna, AustrIa, to a culturally rich family. His mother, Margarethe Noé von Nordberg, was an actress and acting teacher, and his father, Hermann Ferdinand Schell, a poet and playwright. Raised amid literature and theater, Schell debuted on stage at the age of three. Following the Nazi annexation of Austria, his family fled to Zurich, Switzerland. Schell studied philosophy, art history, and journalism at the University of Zurich, LMU Munich, and the University of Basel, and served briefly in the Swiss Army before dedicating himself fully to acting. Filmmaker, and musician of Austrian origin. He was one of the most internationally acclaimed German-speaking actors of his generation, earning accolades for his work on both screen and stage. Born and initially raised in Vienna, where his parents were involved in the arts, 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 the Second World War, Schell took up acting and directing full-time.

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