Oskar Werner

Oskar Werner (; born Oskar Josef Bschließmayer; 13 November 1922 – 23 October 1984) was an Austrian stage and cinema actor who reached international fame. His most prominent roles include two 1965 films, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold and Ship of Fools. For the former, Werner won a Golden Globe Award. For the latter, Werner received an Oscar nomination. Other notable films include Decision Before Dawn, Lola Montès (1955), Jules and Jim (1962), Fahrenheit 451 (1966), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), and Voyage of the Damned (1976).

Werner accepted both stage and film roles throughout his career. He won a New York Film Critics Circle Award, a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated two additional Golden Globes, as well as two BAFTA Awards, and an Academy Award, among other honors.

Early life Born in Vienna, Werner spent much of his childhood in the care of his grandmother, who entertained him with stories about the Burgtheater, the Austrian state theatre, where he was accepted at the age of 18 by Lothar Müthel. He was the youngest person to receive this recognition. He made his theatre debut using the stage name Oskar Werner in October 1941.

In December 1941, Werner was drafted into the Deutsche Wehrmacht. As a pacifist and staunch opponent of National Socialism, he was determined to avoid advancement in the army: He was assigned to peeling potatoes and cleaning latrines instead of being sent to the Eastern Front. In 1944, he secretly married actress , who was half Jewish.

They had a daughter Eleanore. That December, he deserted the Wehrmacht and fled with his wife and daughter to the Wienerwald (Vienna Woods), where they remained in hiding until the end of the war. and the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actor. His portrayal of Fiedler in The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965) won him the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture

In 1966, he played a book-burning fireman Guy Montag who rebels against a controlled society in François Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. and a Vatican priest loosely based on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Shoes of the Fisherman in 1968.

In the early 1970s, Werner returned to the stage and spent time traveling in Israel, Italy, Malta, France, and the United States. He had an uncredited role as a Wehrmacht Officer in the 1974 film The Odessa File.

Werner was also set to appear in Michael Cimino's love triangle drama Perfect Strangers alongside Roy Scheider and Romy Schneider. The film was two weeks into preproduction shooting when it was halted, due to a lot of political machinations at the studio.

His last stage appearance was in a production of The Prince of Homburg in 1983, and he made his last public appearance in 1984 at the Mozart Hall in Salzburg ten days before his death.

Personal life In 1944, while serving in the Wehrmacht, Werner secretly married actress Elisabeth Kallina, who was half Jewish. He was cast in Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon as Captain Potzdorf then replaced after a week, due to his drinking, by Hardy Krüger.

On 22 October 1984, he cancelled a reading at the Hotel Europäischer Hof in Marburg an der Lahn, Germany, feeling ill. He was found dead of a heart attack the following morning, at 61. He is buried in Liechtenstein. Torquato Tasso TV movie

The Spy Who Came In from the Cold Fiedler Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion PictureNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Ship of Fools Dr. Schumann New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorNominated–Academy Award for Best ActorNominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama 1966 Fahrenheit 451 Guy Montag

Interlude Stefan Zelter The Shoes of the Fisherman Fr. David Telemond 1975 Columbo Harold Van Wick Episode: "Playback" 1976 Voyage of the Damned Professor Egon Kreisler Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture