Photo: Christian Augustin/Getty Images
Actor Hardy Krüger, who starred inA Bridge Too FarandBarry Lyndon, has died. He was 93.
His agency added, “his warmth of heart, joie de vivre and his unshakeable sense of justice will make him unforgettable,” viaTHR.
Krüger was born in Berlin in 1928 to parents who were Nazis. The actor spoke about his upbringing in a 2016 interview sayinghe was “raised to love Hitler.”
Hardy Krüger inA Bridge Too Far.United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock
In the interview, which was done in German, Kruger said he broke from the Nazi party after he refused to kill a group of captured U.S. soldiers during the war. He was sentenced to death but was saved when a fellow SS officer intervened.
In 1953, Krüger starred in the German version ofThe Moon Is Bluebefore setting his sights on acting in France, England and Los Angeles.
He starred in the 1957 British war filmThe One That Got Away, which tells the story of the only German prisoner of war to escape from the Allies and return to Germany.
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Hardy Krüger inBarry Lyndon.alamy
Krüger’s blond hair and blue eyes landed him several parts playing German soldiers and Nazis in films like Stanley Kubrick’sBarry Lyndonopposite Ryan O’Neal, A Bridge Too Farwhere he shared a scene with Laurence Olivier, andThe Wild Geesewith Richard Burton. Despite being type-casted, he played a Vietnam veteran in the French dramaSundays and Cybèle, which won the Oscar for Best International Feature in 1962.
He continued working with roles in movies likeBachelor of HeartsandHatari!Krüger largely retired from acting in the 1980s, turning toward publishing books (of which he has written 16).
source: people.com
