Helmut Berger: Austrian actor, movie star in the 1960s and 1970s dies at 78

Helmut Berger, an Austrian actor most known for portraying egotistical and sexually ambiguous characters, died on May 18, 2023, at the age of 78. Berger passed away 11 days before his 80th birthday.

Berger went to London, UK, at the age of 18 after being born on May 29, 1944, in Bad Ischl, Austria, into a family of hoteliers.

Berger’s first acting part was in the 1967 film Le streghe (The Witches) (in the episode “La Strega Bruciata Live”), thanks to Luchino Visconti, whom he met in 1964.

Berger rose to international attention as Visconti’s amoral Martin von Essenbeck in The Damned (1969).

In that film, in what is perhaps his best-known scene, he pretends to be Marlene Dietrich in the film The Blue Angel (1930).

Berger was a European cinema star in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and he is recognized as a sex symbol and pop icon of the time.

He is best known for his collaborations with Luchino Visconti, particularly his portrayal of King Ludwig II of Bavaria in Ludwig, for which he earned a special David di Donatello award, and his performance in The Damned, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.

Berger identified as bisexual. He was involved with his director and mentor, Luchino Visconti, as well as actress Marisa Berenson.

Berger’s affairs included Rudolf Nureyev, Britt Ekland, Ursula Andress, Nathalie Delon, Tab Hunter, Florinda Bolkan, Linda Blair, Marisa Mell, Anita Pallenberg, Marilù Tolo, Jerry Hall, and both Bianca and Mick Jagger, according to his 1998 autobiography Ich. Eine Autobiographie.