HELMUT BERGER

The Austrian born film actor Helmut Berger is mostly known for starring in Luchino Visconti’s films.

His acting career began with French and Italian commercials until, in 1964, he first met Luchino Visconti, who picked him out of pool of extras during the shooting of Vaghe stelle dell’Orsa. Visconti, whose life partner he later became, gave him his first acting role in the movie Le Streghe (1967) in the episode La Strega Bruciata Viva. He attained international fame playing Martin von Essenbeck in Visconti’s The Damned (1969). In this film he mimics the role of Lola, as played by Marlene Dietrich in Der blaue Engel. However, the role of Ludwig II of Bavaria in Visconti’s Ludwig can be considered the pinnacle of his acting career.

Helmut Berger continued acting throughout the 1970s with appearances in many European films, such as Claude Chabrol’s Fantomas and Otto Schenk’s Reigen. After Visconti's death in 1976 Helmut Berger played roles in numerous French, Italian, German films and spent one season on American soap Dynasty (1981). Major films were Codename: Emerald (1985) directed by Jonathan Sanger and Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather III (1990). His autobiography “Me”, in which he famously referred to his relationships with Visconti was published in 1998. Berger, now 62 years old, is still very active appearing in movies and TVseries regularly.