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Klaus Kinski (October 18, 1926–November 23,
1991): International film actor regarded as one of
the best Germany|German actors of the second half
of the 20th century. 
Kinski was born Nikolaus Karl Günther Nakszynski
to an ethnic Poland|Polish father, Bruno
Nakszynski, a pharmacist, and a Danzig (Gdansk)
pastor's daughter named Susanne Lutze, in Zoppot
(now Sopot, Poland), which was then located within
the territory of the Free City of Danzig. In
1930/1931|31, the family moved to Berlin and
Kinski attended the Prinz-Heinrich-Gymnasium in
Schöneberg.

As World War II engulfed Europe, Kinski was
drafted into the Wehrmacht|German Army and served
in the Netherlands. He supposedly spent his short
term in the military flagging down American planes
and begging them to shoot him. Kinski went AWOL
and surrendered to the British forces. He spent
most of his time during the war as a prisoner of
war|POW under British control. When he was in a
POW camp, he discovered his acting talent
performing for his fellow prisoners. After the
war, he chose to return to West Germany rather
than Poland due to the spread of Communism. He
began acting and changed his name to Klaus Kinski.
He started on stage in Germany, became a legend as
a monologist (presenting the prose and verse of
William Shakespeare and Francois Villon, among
others), and soon moved, pragmatically, to film,
where the money was better. 

His film roles include A Time to Love and a Time
to Die (1958), The Counterfeit Traitor (1962),
Doctor Zhivago (1965), For a Few Dollars More
(1965), Grand Slam (movie) (1968). 
His international reputation is built on five
collaborations with director Werner Herzog in the
films Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), Woyzeck
(based on the play by Georg Buchner) (1979),
Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht|Nosferatu the Vampyre
(1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and finally Cobra
verde (1987). With his fluency in English
(language)|English, his unique appearance, and his
ability to project on-screen intensity, Kinski was
always able to get roles, although the quality of
the productions varied wildly, most of them
considered "junk" (Schrott) by Kinski himself.

He was an extremely hard worker and strove for
perfection; however, he was frequently at odds
with co-workers and directors and rarely a team
player. He was a victim of the German directors he
initially had to work with. To scream and shout
abuse uncontrollably was common behaviour of
theatre directors during rehearsals. This was seen
as the only way to achieve perfection. Karl
Paryla, for example, saw it as part of his
"methodology" to drive "his" actors close to a
"nervous breakdown", because then they would
perform better. Fritz Kortner (whom Kinski
mentions in his autobiography) was also famous for
being very harsh and brutal during rehearsals.

Off-screen, Kinski often appeared as a drunken,
sex-crazed maniac, chronicling his exploits in a
(largely fictitious) autobiography that rivals
Wilt Chamberlain's in terms of sexuality. He
alienated his family with claims of incest with
his sister, and when he died, only his son Nikolai
Kinski|Nikolai attended the burial (his ashes were
sunk in the Pacific Ocean).

Due to his playing a lot of crazy, murderous
villains in his films (for example, in the Edgar
Wallace series), and his determined, often
obsessive behavior, he often was referred to as a
crazy genius. Herzog's retrospective on his work
with Kinski was released in the United States as
My Best Fiend. 

He was married four times and had three children,
two daughters (Nastassja Kinski and Pola Kinski,
both being actresses) and a son (Nikolai Kinski).
His brother Arme lives in Berlin, still bitter
about the way Klaus portrayed him in his
"autobiography".

Kinski's last film (which he also wrote and
directed) was Kinski Paganini (1989) in which he
played the legendary violinist Niccolo Paganini.

Kinski died of a heart attack in Lagunitas-Forest
Knolls, California|Lagunitas, California, United
States.

Recently he was honoured by his city of birth,
Sopot. However, this proved to be highly
controversial.

== Books ==

All I Need Is Love (1988) ISBN 0394549163

== External links ==
* imdb name|id=0001428|name=Klaus Kinski
* http://www.goethe.de/ne/hel/depkins.htm (in
German) 
*
http://www.hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk/MultimediaStudentP
rojects/00-01/0009135b/fruits/html/Kinski/kinski-b
io.htm
*
http://www.walther-nienburg.de/Kinski/Post/katovsk
y.html (on Kinski's final interview)