Veteran German actor Udo Kier, best known for his performances in “Breaking the Waves” and “My Own Private Idaho” by Gus Van Sant, has died. He was 81.

The announcement was made by his partner, the artist Delbert McBride, who said that Kier died in a hospital in Palm Springs, California, on Sunday morning, Deadline reported . No cause of death was given.

Kier was born in 1944 in Cologne, Germany, and was discovered when he was a teenager by veteran British producer-director Michael Sarne in London, England.

The actor had his big-screen breakout after starring in Michael Armstrong’s “Mark Of The Devil,” Deadline wrote. He then landed roles in Paul Morrissey and Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein and Dracula adaptations, Dario Argento’s “Suspiria” and several titles by Rainer Werner Fassbinder,

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