Udo Kier

Udo Kier born 14 October 1944

Udo Kier - born Udo Kierspe in Cologne, Germany - is a German actor.

He began his acting career as a protégé of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who was also his lover. He has starred in many vampire movies, such as Blood for Dracula, produced by Andy Warhol and directed by Paul Morrissey (1974), Blade (1998) and Shadow of the Vampire (2000), both as vampire and mere human. He has also starred in all of Lars von Trier's movies since 1987's Epidemic (the only exception being The Idiots), and is the godfather of Trier's daughter Agnes.

Well known mainstream film appearances were as the ironically named Curly in the Pamela Anderson vehicle, Barb Wire, and as an extremely cynical NASA flight surgeon in Jerry Bruckheimer's all-action blockbuster Armageddon who finds himself subjected to the rambunctious behaviour of the flight crew he's supposed to psychoanalyse.

Kier also made an appearance in Madonna's 1992 coffee table book, Sex, as well as the video for her hit Deeper and Deeper from the album Erotica .