(Paris) Helmut Berger, who was the companion and one of the favorite actors of Visconti, died Thursday at the age of 78 in Austria, announced his agency Helmut Werner in a press release to AFP.
The Austrian actor, multilingual and long renowned for his beauty, is known for his roles in the damned (1969) and Ludwig, the twilight of the gods (1973) by Visconti. He embodies a tormented Prince Louis of Bavaria, alongside Romy Schneider replaying the character of Sissi.
Accustomed to aristocratic characters, in front of the camera of his mentor, Helmut Berger also shot under the direction of Vittoria de Sica in The garden of the Finzi Contini (1970). He enjoyed a long romantic relationship with Visconti until his death in 1976.
His career will then slow down and it is in the people pages that he will stand out the most, leading “la dolce vita all his life during”, in the words of his agent.
Drugs, suicide attempts, rowdy liaisons and scandals of all kinds punctuate a large part of his life.
He relates the whole thing in 1998 in memoirs, soberly titled Mewith chapters such as In the same bed as Mick Jagger Or I served Fellini. The opportunity to revive an old, but tenacious enmity with Alain Delon, another favorite actor of Visconti.
Preview in The Godfather 3 (1990), Helmut Berger was more recently seen in the Saint Laurent by Bertrand Bonello. He embodies the aged couturier, while Gaspard Ulliel plays the young Saint Laurent.