Actor Udo Kier, best known for his work as a character actor who thrived in offbeat roles, has died. The cult icon, born in Cologne, Germany, in 1944, spent most of his career collaborating with legendary directors like Lars von Trier, Gus Van Sant, and Werner Herzog. But many Americans were introduced to Kier in the 1994 comedy Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
The movie veered away from the majority of Kier’s other art house films up to that point: He’d previously played a God-fearing witch-hunter in Mark of the Devil, and had the titular roles in two other notable 1970s films, Flesh for Frankenstein and Blood for Dracula, both directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol. Kier had his breakthrough with US audiences when he co-starred alongside River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in Van Sant’s 1991 indie darling My Own Private Idaho. Over the course of his expansive career, during which he appeared in more than 200 films, Kier also took on roles in For Love or Money, Breaking the Waves, Armageddon, and Blade. He even appeared in Madonna’s controversial 1992 book, Sex, and in two of her music videos that same year, “Erotica” and “Deeper and Deeper.” His latest film, The Secret Agent, will be released this month.
Ace Ventura was Kier’s first time in an American blockbuster. The movie, one of Variety’s 100 best comedies of all time, stars Jim Carrey as the titular private investigator, who only investigates animal-related crimes. Kier plays billionaire and exotic animal collector Ronald Camp, whom Ventura suspects of kidnapping Snowflake, the Miami Dolphins mascot he’s been hired to find. Camp — buttoned up in a tux as he hosts a party at his mansion and tries to woo Ventura’s love interest, publicist Melissa Robinson (Courteney Cox) — stands in contrast to Ventura’s synonymous silliness. See how Kier and Carrey’s meeting plays out in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective on Netflix.
