Udo Kier has passed away at the age of 81. The actor appeared in
Actor Udo Kier died on November 23, 2025, at the age of 81 in his adopted home of Palm Springs, California. Most of you will know him from various films such as Blade, Iron Sky, and Armageddon.
However, his voice also left its mark on the world of video games. “I am Yuri—obey me!” Many of you will surely remember this quote, as Kier played the villain Yuri in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.
Kier never revealed much about his private life and tended to keep a low profile. However, in an interview with GQ in 2022, he spoke openly about his homosexuality. He is survived by his long-time partner Delbert McBride (via Variety).
An eventful life
Udo Kier was born Udo Kierspe on October 14, 1944, in Cologne. After school, Kier began training as a wholesale merchant and later worked on the assembly line at Ford.
At the age of 19, he moved to London and attended acting school in the evenings. There he met Rainer Werner Fassbinder (The Marriage of Maria Braun, Law of Freedom), with whom he made many films throughout his life.
Most recently, Kier lent his voice to the character Erich in the video game Martha is Dead and appeared alongside Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) in the series Hunters. In 2021, Kier played the lead role alongside Jennifer Coolidge in the drama Swan Song by director Todd Stephens.
Kier was actually supposed to appear in the upcoming video game OD from Kojima Productions. However, due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, most of the filming had to be postponed until 2026. Now, unfortunately, Kier will no longer have the opportunity to continue working with Hideo Kojima. The game developer also expressed his sadness about this on X:
I’m at a loss for words. It all happened far too suddenly.
Because of the strike, we weren’t able to shoot “OD” for a long time, and we were forced to reschedule to next year. Even during that time, Udo and I exchanged emails frequently. We stayed in close contact. When we met in… pic.twitter.com/aRpP1i38CE— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) November 24, 2025
The Secret Agent, one of Udo Kier’s last films, is currently in theaters and was released on November 6, 2025.
Since June 2020, Kier has even been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars every year.
