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Actor Maximilian Schell Passes Away At Age 83

Maximilian Schell was an Austrian born actor best known for his Oscar winning role in the 1961 film, “Judgment at Nuremberg.” Schell has passed away at the age of 83. As a child, the actor was forced to leave Vienna in 1930 when he and his family were annexed by Nazi Germany. After World War II ended, Schell started acting and directing. He appeared in several anti-war films before heading to Hollywood.

“Judgment at Nuremberg” was just his second role in the U.S. He portrayed defense attorney Hans Rolfe in the Stanley Kramer classic. Before winning the Academy Award for best actor, Schell played Rolfe in a 1959 episode of the TV show “Playhouse 90.”

He was nominate again for best actor in “The Man in the Glass Booth” (1975), where he played a character with two identities, and “Julia” (1977), where he helps the underground in Nazi Germany. Throughout his career, Schell stepped into the shoes of many different personalities as diverse as Venezuelan leader Simón Bolívar, Russian emperor Peter the Great, and scientist Albert Einstein.

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