Maximilian Schell - the famous Austrian actor, director and producer - was born on December 8, 1930 and lived a rather long and very fruitful life. Winner of the prestigious Oscar and Golden Globes film awards, as well as the Bambi television award, he made a great contribution to the development of cinema and theater.
Childhood and youth
Maximilian Schell was born in the creative family of Herman Ferdinand Schell, a playwright, a native of Switzerland, and Austrian actress Margaret Noet von Nordberg. The boy was the youngest of four children of an interethnic couple. In 1938, due to German annexation, the family had to leave Vienna, the capital of Austria, and flee to Zurich. It was in this scientific, financial and cultural center of Switzerland that Maximilian's childhood passed.
After graduating from high school, the teenager entered the university, where he seriously studied football and participated in university team rowing competitions. Along with this, he moonlighted as a freelance correspondent. When the war ended, Shell moved to Germany, where he studied at the University of Munich, studied Germanic studies and the history of art, theater and musicology, philosophy and literature. Having reached military age, Shell returned to Zurich and went to serve in the Swiss army.
The beginning of the creative path
Father did not really encourage the enthusiasm of Maximilian and his other children for acting, doubting that such a life would bring wealth and happiness to his beloved children. But the creative environment in which they grew up, as well as the theatrical career of his mother, determined the choice of Shell, his two sisters and brother. At the age of 9, the future Oscar-bearer writes his first play, and he goes on stage even earlier - at the age of three, he was assigned one of the roles in the performance staged by his father. The debut of an adult artist took place while studying at the Conservatory of Bern in 1953. It was a scene of the local City Theater. That evening, the future famous playwright showed himself both as an actor and director at the same time.
Over the next few years, Shell seeks a suitable haven and changes one theater after another. Finally, in 1959, he opted for the Munich Chamber Theater. However, a tempting offer from Gustaf Grundgens unexpectedly arrives and Shell travels to Hamburg, where he works until 1963.
In the late 60s, the young playwright moved to London and earned enough bread for a translation of Shakespearean works, small and rare theater roles. Only in 1978 did Shell receive a worthy offer to play in the production of Hoffmannsthal’s play “Namerenk”. He performs it at the Salzburg Festival until 1982. In addition, Maximilian Shell continues to engage in directing and staging operas. Many years later, in 2007, he will create a world-famous production of Johann Strauss's operetta Vienna Blood in the Austrian city of Mörbisch am See.
Movie
The first film work for Maximilian Shell was the role in the military drama "Children, Mother and General." This picture was successful, and the actor, who played the deserter, began to invite eminent directors. The following films became: - the melodrama "The Girl from Flanders" of 1956; - the crime drama "And the Last Will Be the First" of 1957; - the military drama "Young Lions" of 1958 with Marlon Brando - "Three Musketeers" (1960).
In 1960, Shell played Hamlet in a television play based on the play of the same name by Shakespeare. His performance as Prince of Denmark is considered one of the best, along with the work of Lawrence Olivier.
In 1960, Maximillian Shell also received the role of Nazi lawyer Hans Rolf in the legal film The Nuremberg Trials. He works in the company of famous artists - Bert Lancaster, Marlene Dietrich, Spencer Tracy, Richard Widmark and Judy Garland. It is for this tape in 1962. Shell receives two of its major awards - the Oscars and Golden Globes. The picture brought him world fame. Film critics were impressed by the actor’s game. In preparation for the film, Shell re-read the vast amount of documents available at the Nuremberg Trials.
A few years after the Oscar M. Schellne can repeat success and balances between culturally valuable but low-budget films and second-rate commercial projects. Films were created during this period:
- Topkapi 1964
- The Suicide Case, 1966,
- “Death on the volcano Krakatau” 1969,
- Simon Bolivar (1969),
- The Players (1979)
For the fees earned from the films, Shell created his own directorial productions. Of all his works, the most famous were:
- melodramatic tape "First Love", which appeared on the screens in 1970;
- the drama Pedestrian (1974),
- the drama “Judge and the Executioner” (1975),
- the documentary "Marlene" (1984), in which Shell works as a documentary.
A very personal work for the Autrian director was the film "My Sister Maria", which he dedicated to his own sister, Maria Shell. For this work, his brother and sister were awarded the prestigious Bambi Television Award.
Shelle's next major successes were in the dramatic films Man in a Glass Booth (1975) and Julia (1977). For both films, the actor was nominated for an Academy Award in the nominations for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Second plan."
The latest film by Maximilian Shell, shown on the screens, was the crime drama "Robbers." The audience saw her in 2015 - after the death of the actor.
A family
M. Shell was married twice. For the first time, the actor went to the altar with the popular Soviet actress Natalya Andreichenko. She met celebrities in 1985 during the filming of the mini-series Peter the Great, which took place in Russia. The lovers got married in 1986, and in 1989 they had a daughter, Nastasya. Maximilian also adopted the son of Natalia from Dmitry’s first marriage.
In 2005, the relationship collapses, and the actors get divorced. The initiator was Maximilian, who met a new muse - Elizabeth Mihich - an art historian and gallery owner, originally from Vienna, who is 47 years younger than him. In 2008, Shell began a new relationship with opera singer Iva Mikhanovich. She became his last love. August 20, 2013 the couple officially registered the relationship - a few months before the death of the actor.
