“Out of Africa”, “James Bond”, “Jedermann” – with Klaus Maria Brandauer, a true film and theater star is celebrating his 80th birthday.
Klaus Maria Brandauer is one of the best German speaking actors. He was born Klaus Georg Steng on June 22, 1943 in Bad Aussee in the Austrian province of Styria. Today, Thursday, he is celebrating his 80th birthday. “I don’t have any great expectations or plans right now. I’m glad that I’m experiencing it. I have enough to do in my job and I’m fine […] I know exactly how old I am and I would like to get even older” for his milestone birthday. A few days later he was with the Mozarteum Orchestra and the Salzburg Bach Choir in Munich’s Isarphilharmonie as speaker in Mendelssohn’s music for Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. see.
About the music to acting and the stage name
Music shaped his life, he continued in the interview. “I grew up with music and sheet music. What impressed me in many ways was when my mother took me to the church choir,” says Brandauer, adding: “That also shaped me a lot and actually did taken directly, without my knowing it, to acting, to the theatre.”
He also immortalized his Austrian mother in his stage name. He appended her first and maiden name Maria Brandauer to his first name. And so Klaus Georg Steng – his father was the German customs officer Georg Steng – became Klaus Maria Brandauer.
Member of the ensemble at the Burgtheater in Vienna
After graduating from high school in 1962, Brandauer studied for two semesters at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart. However, he dropped out of college to become an actor. His mother supported him. In 1963 he made his debut at the Landestheater Tübingen in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. As a result, he was on stage in Salzburg, Düsseldorf, Munich and Vienna – and attracted attention.
In 1972 he became a member of the ensemble at the renowned Burgtheater in Vienna. He can still be seen there today – including on the evening of his birthday. “Klaus Maria Brandauer reads Minetti by Thomas Bernhard”, is the headline of the sold-out “Festival performance for her 80th birthday and 50th stage anniversary”.
There is also a note that Brandauer played Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival from 1983 to 1988. He explained the importance of this role in an interview with spot on news in early 2021: “You don’t just play this one prominent role, you are also the carnival prince for the people of Salzburg, as long as you are everyone and all year round. This You have to be able to endure appropriation, otherwise you don’t enjoy it.” As a tip to one of his successors, then Lars Eidinger (47), he said: “It’s summer, it’s outside, it’s a party. He should just have a lot of fun with the whole ensemble in every performance on the cathedral square, like we had that back then, then the rest will fall into place.” Klaus Maria Brandauer has been an honorary member of the Burgtheater since 2013.
From Theater to Hollywood
In the 1980s, Klaus Maria Brandauer also became an international film star. In “James Bond 007 – Never Say Never” (1983) he played Sean Connery’s (1930-2020) opponent Maximilian Largo, perhaps the most characterful Bond villain of all time.
He was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the US drama “Out of Africa” (1985) with Meryl Streep (73) and Robert Redford (86). If he is still asked about the multiple Oscar-winning strip, he is – in contrast to some other artists – not annoyed, as he says. “It doesn’t annoy me at all, it was a very important time when a lot happened to me and I like to think back to it,” he said spot on news. Asked about contact with Streep and Redford, he said: “It’s been a while and we’re all still very busy, but I have the phone numbers.”
With all his success, which is evidenced by countless prizes and awards, the actor and director Brandauer knows that good films are above all teamwork. In 2021 he was seen in the TV experiment “Ferdinand von Schirach: Enemies”. The same criminal case was told once from the perspective of the investigator and once from the perspective of the defense attorney (Brandauer). In the interview, the actor particularly emphasized the team: “A production like this is a very complex matter because so much has to come together in a good way. It doesn’t work without a fantastic crew like the one we had. Many experienced professionals take care of that making sure that everything is always in the right place at the right moment and that, despite all the logistics, art can still break out.”
Apart from his own projects and productions, Klaus Maria Brandauer is not indifferent to young talent and so he teaches at the Max Reinhardt Seminar for Acting and Directing in Vienna.
Honorary citizen of Altaussee
The multinational artist Brandauer lives in Vienna, Berlin and New York City. His retreat, however, is the small town of Altaussee, not far from his birthplace, where he has long been an honorary citizen. “I walk whenever possible. And at home in Styria, I like to walk in the forest,” he revealed.
It is quite possible that one of his two sons will accompany him there from time to time. In 1963, the then 20-year-old married his 18-year-old childhood sweetheart Karin Brandauer, née Müller, from Altaussee. In the same year their son Christian was born. The renowned director and screenwriter Karin Brandauer died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 47.
In 2007, Klaus Maria Brandauer married the theater scholar Natalie Krenn, who was 32 years his junior, in the Nikolaikirche in Berlin. She also comes from the Altaussee area. At the wedding, his son Christian was best man. In 2014 his second son Ferdinand was born…
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
