MAXIMILIAN SCHELL BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Maximilian Schell was born on December 8th, 1930 in Vienna, Austria to Margarethe and Hermann Ferdinand Schell.  His family relocated to Zurich, Switzerland and he received his schooling in Switzerland.  He developed an interest in acting around the age of eleven.  He actually wrote a play for his school and it was performed by him and the other students.

After earning a high school degree he went on to join the Swiss Army and after completing his military service, Schell began finding stage work as an actor with the Basel Theater.

In the early 1950's he began to study acting and began appearing in a number of German speaking films as well as some television roles.  After gaining some more experience in Europe in television, film and also as a stage performer he made the move to the United States.
 
In 1958 he debuted in his first film in Hollywood, "The Young Lions" and then he was cast on the television series, "Playhouse 90" (1959) appearing in two separate episodes portraying, Gunther and Hans Rolfe. 

In 1961 he appeared on the film, "Judgment at Nuremberg" which also starred Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner and Montgomery Clift, and won the Academy Award for Best Actor as well as a Golden Globe and the New York Films Circle Critics Award for his performance.

As his career progressed and now with quite a reputation in Hollywood he began to add more prominent roles to his resume such as, "The Young Lions" (1958) starring Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin, "The Reluctant Saint" (1962) also starring Ricardo Montalban, Lea Padovani and Akim Tamiroff, "The Deadly Affair" (1966) sharring the star spotlight with James Mason, Harry Andrews and Simone Signoret, "Krakatoa, East of Java" (1969) co-starring Diane Baker, Brian Keith and Sal Mineo, "First Love" (1970) and "The Man in the Glass Booth" (1975) co-starring Lawrence Pressman and Lois Nettleton, and "Julia" (1977) starring with Jane Fonda, Jason Robards, Vanessa Redgrave and Hal Holbrook, a performance for which he received another Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as well as the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor. 

In addition to his film work he has over the course of his career also appeared in a number of television movies as well as television series.  Some of his more well known appearances have been on the television movies, "Abraham" (1993) starring with Richard Harris, Barbara Hershey and Vittorio Gassman, "Joan of Arc" (1999) starring Leelee Sobieski, Peter O'Toole, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Loggia, Shirley MacLaine, Peter Strauss, Powers Boothe, Olympia Dukakis and Neil Patrick Harris, "The Shell Seekers" (2006) co-starring Vanessa Redgrave and Sebastian Koch and the television series, "Peter the Great" starring Vanessa Redgrave, Omar Sharif, Ursula Andress and Laurence Olivier and "Love, Lies, Passions".

He has remained true to his German heritage and appeared in a number of German language made-for-TV films such as, "All the Luck in the World" (2003) and "The Return of the Dancing Master"(2004).
 
Schell has also worked on the other side of the industry as a director and has added such credits to his resume for directing the films "First Love" (1970), "The Pedestrian" (1973), "End of the Game" (1975), "Tales from the Vienna Woods" (1979) and documentaries, "Marlene" (1984) about the legendary film actress Marlene Dietrich and "My Sister Maria" (2002).
 
Maximilian Schell has one child from his only marriage to Natalya Andreychenko whom he was married to from 1985 through 2005.  He is also the Godfather of actress Angelina Jolie.  Most recent roles include the television movie, "Die Rosenkönigin" (2007) and the films, "The Brothers Bloom" (2008), "Flores negras" (2009), "Darkness" (2009) and soon to release in 2013, "An Artist's Emblem".
 
 
Filmography

2013         An Artist's Emblem
2009         Darkness
2009         Flores negras
2008         The Brothers Bloom
2007         Die Rosenkönigin 
2007         Giganten
2003-2007     Der Fürst und das Mädchen 
2006         The Shell Seekers
2006         House of the Sleeping Beauties
2006         Die Alpenklinik
2005         Die Liebe eines Priesters 
2004         The Return of the Dancing Master 
2003         Alles Glück dieser Erde 
2003         Coast to Coast 
2002         Der Bestseller - Mord auf italienisch 
2002         Love, Lies, Passions 
2001         Festival in Cannes
2001         The Song of the Lark
2000         Just Messing About
2000         I Love You, Baby
1999         Joan of Arc 
1999         On the Wings of Love
1998         Deep Impact
1998         Vampire
1998         Left Luggage
1998         The Eighteenth Angel
1997         Telling Lies in America
1997         Biography
1997         Through Roses
1997         The Song of the Lark
1996         The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years 
1996         The Vampyre Wars
1994         Little Odessa
1993         Abraham
1993         Candles in the Dark
1993         Justiz
1993         A Far Off Place
1992         Stalin
1992         Miss Rose White
1991         Young Catherine 
1990         Wiseguy
1990         The Freshman
1989         The Rosegarden
1986         Peter the Great
1985         The Assisi Underground
1984         Morgen in Alabama
1983         The Islands
1983         The Phantom of the Opera
1981         The Chosen
1980         The Diary of Anne Frank 
1979         The Black Hole
1979         Amo non amo
1979         Tales from the Vienna Woods
1979         Avalanche Express
1979         Players
1977         Julia
1977         A Bridge Too Far
1977         Cross of Iron
1976         St. Ives
1975         The Day That Shook the World
1975         End of the Game
1975         The Man in the Glass Booth
1974         The Odessa File
1974         The Rehearsal
1973         The Pedestrian
1972         Paulina 188
1972         Pope Joan
1970         First Love
1969         Simón Bolívar
1969         Krakatoa, East of Java
1968         Heidi 
1968         The Castle
1968         Beyond the Mountains
1967         Counterpoint
1967         Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1966         Die venezianischen Zwillinge 
1966         The Deadly Affair
1965         Return from the Ashes
1965         Der seidene Schuh
1964         Topkapi
1964         Letters of Mozart - Briefe Mozarts
1962         The Reluctant Saint
1962         The Condemned of Altona
1962         Five Finger Exercise
1961         Judgment at Nuremberg
1961         Hamlet 
1960         Family Classics: The Three Musketeers
1960         Alcoa Theatre 
1960         Sunday Showcase 
1960         Buick-Electra Playhouse 
1960         The Fifth Column
1959         Eine Dummheit macht auch der Gescheiteste
1959         Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse 
1959         Playhouse 90 
1958         Die Bernauerin
1958         Kinder der Berge
1958         The Young Lions
1958         Der Meisterdieb
1957         The Last Ones Shall Be First
1957         Taxi Driver Baenz
1956         Ein Herz kehrt heim
1956         Marriage of Dr. Danwitz
1956         The Girl from Flanders
1955         Ripening Youth
1955         The Plot to Assassinate Hitler
1955         Children, Mother, and the General