Armin Mueller-Stahl

Armin Mueller-Stahl (born 17 December 1930) is a retired German film actor, painter and author, who also appeared in numerous English-language films since the 1980s. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in '' Shine''. In 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear.

Early life

Mueller-Stahl was born in Tilsit, East Prussia (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). His mother, Editta, was from an upper-class family and became a university professor in Leipzig. His father, Alfred Müller, was a bank teller who changed the family's surname to "Mueller-Stahl". The rest of the family moved to Berlin while his father fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. Mueller-Stahl was a concert violinist while he was a teenager and enrolled at an East Berlin acting school in 1952.

Career

Mueller-Stahl was a film and stage actor in East Germany, performing in such films as ''Her Third'' and '' Jacob the Liar''. For that country's television, he played the main character of the popular series ''Das unsichtbare Visier'' from 1973–1979, a spy thriller program designed, in co-operation with the Stasi, as a counterpart to the James Bond films. After protesting against Wolf Biermann's denaturalization in 1976 he was blacklisted by the government. Emigrating in 1980 to West Germany, he found regular work in films. These included Rainer Werner Fassbinder's ''Lola'' (1981) and ''Veronika Voss'' (1982), Andrzej Wajda's ''A Love in Germany'' (1984), ''Angry Harvest'' and ''Colonel Redl'' (both 1985), the latter about the scandal surrounding Austro-Hungarian Army Colonel Alfred Redl.

Mueller-Stahl played the Soviet general in charge of the occupied United States in the 1987 ABC television miniseries '' Amerika''. He made his American feature film debut as Jessica Lange's character's father in ''Music Box'' (1989). His performance as a Jewish immigrant to the United States in the 1990 film ''Avalon'' was widely praised. He subsequently took character roles in ''Kafka'' by Steven Soderbergh and ''Night on Earth'' by Jim Jarmusch (both 1991).

Mueller-Stahl won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival for his performance in '' Utz'' (1992). Mueller-Stahl was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the abusive father of pianist David Helfgott in the 1996 film '' Shine''. Mueller-Stahl was also in '' A Pyromaniac's Love Story'' (1995) and the 1997 remake of the film ''12 Angry Men''. ''Conversation with the Beast'' (1996) was his first film as director. In 1998, he played the German scientist and syndicate member, Conrad Strughold, in the feature film ''The X-Files''. In 1999 he played the mastermind of a criminal gang opposite Ray Liotta and Gloria Reuben in ''Pilgrim'', also distributed under the title ''Inferno''.

In the early 2000s, Mueller-Stahl received a positive response for his portrayal of Thomas Mann in a German miniseries about the Mann family called '' Die Manns - Ein Jahrhundertroman''. In 2004, Mueller-Stahl made a foray into American television, guest-starring in four episodes on the television drama series ''The West Wing'' as the Prime Minister of Israel. In 2006, he played the role of reclusive Russian artist Nikolai Seroff in '' Local Color''. He had a role in David Cronenberg's crime drama ''Eastern Promises'' (2007) and the thriller '' The International'' (2009), both of which co-starred British-Australian actress Naomi Watts. In 2008, he won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for ''Eastern Promises'', and Mueller-Stahl played the role of Cardinal Strauss, Dean of the College of Cardinals and the Papal conclave, in ''Angels & Demons'' (2009).

In 2011, he was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.

Since the creation of the Freya von Moltke Stiftung, working out of Berlin and Krzyżowa, he has been a supporter and linked with their work.

Filmography

* ''Heimliche Ehen'' (1956), as Norbert
* '' Die Flucht aus der Hölle'' (1960), as Hans Röder
* ''Five Cartridges'' (1960), as Pierre Gireau
* ''Star-Crossed Lovers'' (1962), as Michael
* ''… und deine Liebe auch'' (1962), as Ullrich Settich
* '' Naked among Wolves'' (1963), as André Höfel
* ''Christine'' (1963)
* ''Preludio 11'' (1964), as Quintana
* ''Alaskafüchse'' (1964), as Sowjetischer Arzt
* ''Wolf Among Wolves'' (1965, TV series), as Wolfgang Pagel
* ''Ein Lord am Alexanderplatz'' (1967), as Dr. Achim Engelhardt
* '' Ways across the Country'' (1968), as Jürgen Leßtorff
* ''Tödlicher Irrtum'' (1970), as Chris Howard
* ''Her Third'' (1972), as The Blind Man
* ''Januskopf'' (1972), as Dr. Brock
* ''Die Hosen des Ritters von Bredow'' (1973), as Dechant von Krummensee
* ' (1974), as Mr. Slavovitz
* '' Jacob the Liar'' (1974), as Roman Schtamm
* ''Nelken in Aspik'' (1976), as Wolfgang Schmidt
* ''Das unsichtbare Visier'' (1973–1976, TV series), as Werner Bredebusch
* ''Die Flucht'' (1977), as Schmidt
* ''Lola'' (1981), as Von Bohm
* ' (1981, TV film), as Andreas Roth
* ''Veronika Voss'' (1982), as Max Rehbein
* ' (1982), as 'Gandhi'
* ' (1982), as Harald Liebe
* ''Die Flügel der Nacht'' (1982), as Goedel
* ''Embers'' (1983), as François Korb / Andres Korb
* ' (1983), as Tetzlav
* ' (1983), as The Lawyer
* '' The Wounded Man'' (1983), as Henri's Father
* ''A Love in Germany'' (1983), as Mayer
* ' (1983), as Sam
* ''Rita Ritter'' (1984)
* ' (1984), as Arnold
* ''Colonel Redl'' (1985), as Archduke Franz Ferdinand
* ''Angry Harvest'' (1985), as Leon Wolny
* ''Die Mitläufer'' (1985)
* ''Forget Mozart'' (1985), as Graf Pergen
* ''The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time'' (1985), as Blind Director
* ''Close-Up'' (1985, TV film), as Dold
* ''Momo'' (1986), as Leader of the Men in Grey
* '' Franza'' (1987, TV film), as Jordan
* '' Amerika'' (1987, TV miniseries), as General Petya Samanov
* ' (1987), as Lutz Kehlmann
* ''Jokehnen'' (1987, TV miniseries), as Karl Steputat
* ''Lethal Obsession'' (1987), as Axel Baumgartner
* ''Midnight Cop'' ''Killing Blue'' (1988), as Inspector Alex Glass
* '' Spider's Web'' (1989), as Baron von Rastchuk
* ' (1989), as Maxwell
* ''A hecc'' (1989), as Marnó, kabinos, Tamás barátja
* ''Music Box'' (1989), as Mike Laszlo
* ''Avalon'' (1990), as Sam Krichinsky
* ''Night on Earth'' (1991), as Helmut Grokenberger
* ''Kafka'' (1991), as Grubach
* ' (1991), as Aaron
* '' Utz'' (1992), as Baron Kaspar Joachim von Utz
* '' The Power of One'' (1992), as Doc
* ''Far from Berlin'' (1992), as Otto Lindner
* '' Red Hot'' (1993), as Dimitri
* ' (1993), as Movie Teller
* ''The House of the Spirits'' (1993), as Severo
* '' Taxandria'' (1994), as Karol / Virgilus
* '' Holy Matrimony'' (1994), as Wilhelm
* ''The Last Good Time'' (1994), as Joseph Kopple
* '' A Pyromaniac's Love Story'' (1995), as Mr. Linzer
* '' Theodore Rex'' (1995), as Elizar Kane
* '' Shine'' (1996), as Peter
* ''Conversation with the Beast'' (1996), as Adolf Hitler
* '' The Ogre'' (1996), as Count von Kaltenborn
* ''In the Presence of Mine Enemies'' (1997, TV Movie), as Rabbi Adam Heller
* ''12 Angry Men'' (1997, TV Movie), as Juror #4
* '' The Game'' (1997), as Anson Baer
* ''The Assistant'' (1997), as Mr. Morris Bober
* '' The Peacemaker'' (1997), as Dimitri Vertikoff
* '' The Commissioner'' (1998), as Hans Koenig
* ''The X-Files'' (1998), as Strughold
* '' The Thirteenth Floor'' (1999), as Hannon Fuller / Grierson
* ''The Third Miracle'' (1999), as Werner
* ''Jakob the Liar'' (1999), as Kirschbaum
* ''Jesus'' (1999, TV film), as Joseph
* ''Mission to Mars'' (2000), as Ray Beck (uncredited)
* ''Pilgrim'' (2000), as Mac
* '' The Long Run'' (2001), as Bertold 'Barry' Bohmer
* ''Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman'' (2001, TV miniseries), as Thomas Mann
* ''The Story of an African Farm'' (2004), as Otto
* ''The West Wing'' (2004, TV series, 4 episodes), as Israeli Prime Minister Efraim 'Eli' Zahavy
* ''The Dust Factory'' (2004), as Grandpa Randolph
* '' Local Color'' (2006), as Nicholi Seroff
* ' (2006), as Karl Winter
* ''Eastern Promises (film), Eastern Promises'' (2007), as Semyon
* ''Buddenbrooks (film), Buddenbrooks'' (2008), as Johann 'Jean' Buddenbrook
* '' The International'' (2009), as Wilhelm Wexler
* ''Angels & Demons'' (2009), as Cardinal Strauss
* ''Attack on Leningrad'' (2009), as Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb
* ''Knight of Cups (film), Knight of Cups'' (2015), as Fr. Zeitlinger

Awards

* Berlin Film Festival
** Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival
** Berlinale Camera at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival
** Honorary Golden Bear at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival
*Lifetime Achievement Award of Zurich Film Festival (2015)
* Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role (2007)
* Honorary citizen of Sovetsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Sovetsk (2011)Armin Mueller-Stahl Ehrenbürger seiner Heimatstadt
Berliner Zeitung, 8 December 2011

See also

* List of German-speaking Academy Award winners and nominees

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueller-Stahl, Armin
1930 births
Living people
20th-century German male actors
21st-century German male actors
German male film actors
German male television actors
German film directors
People from East Prussia
People from Tilsit
Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia
Honorary Golden Bear recipients
Knights Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Recipients of the Art Prize of the German Democratic Republic
Silver Bear for Best Actor winners
Best Supporting Actor AACTA Award winners
Best Supporting Actor Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners
German Film Award winners
East German emigrants to West Germany
German male violinists