OBITUARY

Maximilian Schell dies at 83; Oscar-winning actor

.

.

Schell, who played the most famous role of his career in ‘Judgment at Nuremberg,’ also directed films, plays and opera.

.

By David Colker

Los Angeles Times

February 1, 2014

.

When Austrian-born actor Maximilian Schell won the best actor Academy Award in 1962 for his role in “Judgment at Nuremberg,” he gave a short thank-you speech in which he recalled being questioned by a customs official upon first arriving in the United States. “He was asking me what I was doing here, and I said, ‘I’m going to do a film,'” Schell told the glittering crowd in his accented English. “And he said to me, ‘Good luck, boy.’ And I think that was very unusual for a customs man. And I can tell him now that I had it.”

.

Undoubtedly, Schell, whose family fled the Nazis when he was a boy, made his own luck — not only as a celebrated actor who amassed more than 100 film and TV credits, but also as a director of films, documentaries, plays and opera.

.

Schell, 83, died early Saturday in a hospital in Innsbruck, Austria, of natural causes, according to his European agent, Patricia Baumbauer. Schell’s wife, Iva, was with him when he died. They were married in August.

.

Click here to continue reading the Los Angeles Times obituary for Maximilian Schell

________________________________

.