German Actor Udo Kier's Death Was Confirmed by His Partner, Artist Delbert McBride

Veteran German actor Udo Kier is dead at 81. His death was confirmed to Variety by his partner, artist Delbert McBride. The cult icon was honored by various friends and colleagues, including fellow German actor Franka Potente (Run Lola Run). "It would be so hard not to love Udo," Franka wrote in an Instagram post. "He was one of a kind: wicked, audacious, young at heart."

The word that comes up frequently in tributes to the late actor is the word icon. It's the only description fitting for a career that spanned decades, beginning in the mid-1960s. In May 2022, he answered questions submitted to The Guardian, one of which was about rewatching his old films. "I’ve made 275 films, a lot of which I want to forget, but also some I will never forget," he said. The actor was equally as private about his personal life. Here's what we know about his partner.

Delbert was born in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1961, per an Instagram post to his page. His obsession with art, which started with drawing at a young age, led Delbert to Carnegie Mellon University. There was no one artist Delbert was drawn to, though he appreciated the "freedom of art" found in Picasso's work.

Delbert moved to Los Angeles, where his art was eventually part of a group show alongside the likes of Ed Rusha and Ed Moses. There aren't many posts about Uda on Delbert's Instagram. In November 2012, Delbert shared a photograph of one of his paintings, writing in the caption that Udo owned it.

Delbert describes his art as an "exploration through light and dark." He appreciates the fact that art is limitless. "I illustrate a melting of events together," writes Delbert on Instagram, "which normally the viewer sees as afterthoughts." While we don't know how long Delbert and Udo were together, we know they had known each other for at least 25 years. Delbert shared a photo of himself with Udo and actor Brigitte Nielsen from the 2000 film Doomsdayer on Instagram.

Udo's cause of death has yet to be revealed. What we do know about is his awareness of the end. In his Q&A piece with The Guardian, Udo was reminded of a line he spoke in German in Madonna's 1992 video for her song "Deeper and Deeper." In it, he screams, "Beware! Our idols and demons will pursue us until we learn to let them go." The reader wanted to know what demons Udo had battled in his life.

Udo replied, "Only one demon: time." He went on to say that time is the biggest demon in the world. "Nobody can put time back, but if you could, you would do a lot of things differently," said Udo. He fell into acting when British actor and director Michael Sarn spotted Udo on campus at St Giles International. What he liked was the attention, and the world made sure Udo Kier kept working.