Dead or Alive?- Klaus Kinski

We conclude our three entries devouted to the fall of the Berlin Wall by asking our blog visitors if the egotistical German actor Klaus Kinski is dead or alive.

Kinski collaborated with German director Werner Herzog five times even though the two openly despised each other. The making of one of those films "Fitzcarraldo"
(1982) is the subject of an excellent documentary entitled "The Burden of Dreams" by my friend Les Blank.

The German actor was born on Oct. 18, 1926, in what is now Sopot, Poland. He grew up in Berlin and was drafted into the German army. He was taken prisoner by British forces in Holland.

Kinski was married and divroced four times, and he is the father of actress Nastassja Kinski, best known for her starring role in Roman Polanski's "Tess."

Though he starred in some classic films of German cinema, Kinski also starred in some infamous or dreadful films like "Venus in Furs" (1969) from the sometimes notorious Spanish filmmaker Jesus Franco.

Kinski also turned down the role of the villain for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981) because he thought the script was awful?!

PS- The subject of our last entry in this series Christopher Lee is indeed alive and well, and still starring in films.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Wall Grafitti

We are continuing to add blog entries in honor of the Berlin Wall coming down twenty years ago this week.

I saw that the subject is a cover story in the current issue of "Reason" magazine, a libertarian publication (since I am a centrist Democrat, I subscribe to "The New Republic" instead).

And, when I lived closer to Washington, DC, a few years ago, I saw a great exhibit on the Berlin at the Newsuem.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall also made for an interesting recent entry from my friend Christopher Knight's blog "The Knight Shift" (theknightshift.blogspot.com)

Ironically, this photo was not taken in Berlin, but London, England. Apparently, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is the subject of a very amusing anti-Thatcher anthem by Elvis Costello on his "Spike" album, was one of the few western leaders who expressed reservation about the unification of Germany in 1989.

Special Quote of the Day- Lou Reed

Since it has been 40 years since the Berlin Wall came down, I thought I would quip a legendary musician who was part of the Berlin music scene in the '70s. We have quoted Lou Reed, former lead singer of the Velvet Underground, before and even though he is not German he seems like the perfect person to quote.

I especially like this commentary given how a film critic, who I refuse to name, esentially wrote a character assasination of filmmaking legend Robert Altman a few weeks back:

"I don't know anyone who actually cares what a critic says."