Mario Adorf, 1930 – 2026

Swiss-born German character actor Mario Adorf, 95, died on April 8 in Paris. Adorf often played villains or authority figures: "In and of itself, the villain is the interesting role in a book,” he said. “I don't love the villains as people, as characters, but I know their significance, so I'm happy to lend them my body, my face.” He appeared in such films as The Tin Drum, Ten Little Indians, Smilla's Sense of Snow, Major Dundee, The Devil Strikes at Night, Smiley's People, The Italian Connection, The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum, and Lola, in everything from spaghetti westerns to “New German Cinema” and numerous TV series, for directors including Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak, Sam Peckinpah, and Claude Chabrol. Adorf was the father of actress Stella Adorf, by his first wife, actress Lis Verhoeven.