Personal life

Brandauer was born as Klaus Georg Steng in Bad Aussee, Austria. He is the son of Maria Brandauer and Georg Steng (or Stenj), a civil servant. He subsequently took his mother's maiden name as part of his professional name, Klaus Maria Brandauer.

Career

Brandauer began acting on stage in 1962. After working in national theatre and television, he made his film debut in 1972. In 1975 he played in Derrick - in Season 2, Episode 8 called "Pfandhaus". His starring and award-winning role in István Szabó's Mephisto (1981) playing a self-absorbed actor, launched his international career.

Following his role in Mephisto, Brandauer appeared in his first English-speaking role in playing Maximillian Largo in Never Say Never Again (1983), a remake of the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball. Roger Ebert said of his performance: "For one thing, there's more of a human element in the movie, and it comes from Klaus Maria Brandauer, as Largo. Brandauer is a wonderful actor, and he chooses not to play the villain as a cliché. Instead, he brings a certain poignancy and charm to Largo, and since Connery always has been a particularly human James Bond, the emotional stakes are more convincing this time.". He starred in Out of Africa (1985), opposite Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, for which he was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe, and Szabó's Oberst Redl (1985).

In 1987, he was the Head of the Jury at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1988 he appeared in Hanussen opposite Erland Josephson and Ildikó Bánsági. Brandauer was originally cast as Marko Ramius in The Hunt for Red October. That role eventually went to Oscar nominee Sean Connery, who played James Bond to Brandauer's Largo in Never Say Never Again (1983). He co-starred with Connery again in The Russia House (1990).

Brandauer directed his first film in 1989, Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland (de), with himself in the title role. His other film roles have been in The Lightship (1986), Streets of Gold (1986), Burning Secret (1988), The Russia House (1990), White Fang (1991), Becoming Colette (1992), Introducing Dorothy Dandridge (1999), and Everyman's Feast (2002). In 1989 he participated in the great production film for the bicentennial of the French Revolution by the French television channel TF1, La Révolution française: He played the role of Georges Danton.

In August 2006, Brandauer's much-awaited production of The Threepenny Opera gained a mixed reception. Brandauer had resisted questions about how his production of Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's classic musical comedy about the criminal MacHeath would differ from earlier versions, and his production featured Mack the Knife in a three-piece suit and white gloves, stuck to Brecht's text, and avoided any references to contemporary politics or issues.

Brandauer is fluent in five languages: German, Italian, Hungarian, English and French and has acted in each.

Family

His first wife was Karin Katharina Müller (14 October 1945—13 November 1992), an Austrian film and television director and screenwriter, from 1963 until her death in 1992, aged 47, from cancer. Both were teenagers when they married, in 1963. They had one son. Brandauer married Natalie Krenn in 2007.

Awards

• 1982 Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer / Mephisto
• 1988 Won - Bavarian Film Awards, Best Actor / Burning Secret
• 1986 Won - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture / Out of Africa
• 1986 Won - KCFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor / Out of Africa
• 1986 Won - National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor / Out of Africa
• 1986 Won - NYFCC Award for Best Supporting Actor / Out of Africa
• 1986 Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor / Out of Africa
• 1986 Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role / Out of Africa
• 1988 Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actor / Hanussen
• 1994 Nominated - 19th Moscow International Film Festival for Mario and the Magician
• 2000 Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie / Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
• 2000 Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film / Introducing Dorothy Dandridge

Selected filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1972	The Salzburg Connection	Johann Kronsteiner
1975	Derrick - Season 2, Episode 8: "Pfandhaus"	Erich Forster	TV
1979	A Sunday in October	Hoffmann
1981	Mephisto	Hendrik Höfgen	Won Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
1983	Never Say Never Again	Maximilian Largo	Unofficial James Bond film
1985	Colonel Redl	Alfred Redl
	Quo Vadis?	Nero	TV miniseries
	The Lightship	Captain Miller
	Out of Africa	Baron Bror Blixen	Nominated for Academy Award and won a Golden Globe.
1986	Streets of Gold	Alek Neuman
1988	Hanussen	Erik Jan Hanussen
	Burning Secret	Baron Alexander von Hauenstein
1989	Spider's Web	Benjamin Lenz
	Georg Elser - Einer aus Deutschland (de)	Georg Elser	also director
	La Révolution française	Georges Danton	TV miniseries
1990	The Russia House	Dante
1991	White Fang	Alex Larson
	Becoming Colette (ru)	Henry Gauthier-Villars
1994	Felidae	Pascal/Claudandus	Voice Only
	Mario and the Magician	Cipolla	also director
1998	Jeremiah (de)	King Nebuchadnezzar	TV film
1999	Rembrandt (fr)	Rembrandt
	Introducing Dorothy Dandridge	Otto Preminger	TV film
2000	Help! I'm a Fish	Joe	Voice Only (German version)
	Dykaren (sv)	Orlov
2001	Druids	Julius Caesar
2002	Everyman's Feast	Jan Jedermann
	Between Strangers	Alexander Bauer
2003	Entrusted	Gregor Lämmle	TV film
2006	Kronprinz Rudolfs letzte Liebe (de)	Emperor Franz Joseph	TV film
2009	Tetro	Carlo Tetrocini
2011	Manipulation	Urs Rappold
2012	The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich	Wilhelm Reich
2013	Die Auslöschung (de)	Ernst Lemden	TV film

[ Source: Wikipedia ]