‘Blade’ and ‘Ace Ventura’ Actor Dead at 81: Partner Confirms Death of Udo Kier

Iconic German actor Udo Kier has died. He was 81.

The actor, who worked with everyone from Andy Warhol to Dario Argento to Madonna, died on Sunday morning. His passing was confirmed by his partner Delbert McBride.

It’s hard not to look at any medium and not find Udo Kier lurking around somewhere. His big break was in the 1973 art-house horror film Flesh for Frankenstein, made by Andy Warhol’s close associate Paul Morrissey.

Afterwards, he appeared in big-budget movies like Blade and Ace Ventura, did voice work for cartoons like Scooby-Doo, Axe Cop, and Justice League, appeared in music videos for artists like Gwen Stefani, Korn, and Madonna—whose controversially erotic book Sex he also appeared in—and popped up in plenty of video games, like the Command & Conquer series and Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima’s hotly-anticipated 2027 title OD.

He is also well-known for his many collaborations with directors Gus van Sant and Lars von Trier. He credits Van Sant with introducing him to the U.S. audience thanks to My Own Private Idaho, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV starring Keanu Reaves, River Phoenix, and Kier.

Around the same time, he met von Trier, and would later go on to appear in 12 of the director’s 16 films—almost all of which are famously controversial for being extremely edgy or explicit, and all of which raised Kier’s profile even further.

His final role was in the upcoming Portuguese neo-noir historical thriller The Secret Agent, which was an awards darling at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and is expected to be a top contender for Best International Film at this year’s upcoming Academy Awards.

Kier was openly gay throughout his entire career, a fact unbeknownst to most of his audience since many of his roles revolved around playing masculine or menacing characters. He once said “no one ever asked” about his sexuality because he was such a good actor.

“Maybe it was obvious, but it didn’t make any difference because all that mattered was the role I was playing. As long as I did a good job on the part, no one cared,” he said in a 2021 interview.