After losing a legal battle over custody for his daughter, he became a
strong activist for the rights of fathers. In a controversial
performance, he was symbolically crucified in front of the German
Ministery of Justice (17 June 2006).
Speaks French fluently and has acted in several French language
films.
Member of the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in
1980
His very first two film roles were as the title character from novels written by famous German writers: as Tonio Kröger (1964) which was based on Thomas Mann novel and as Young Törless (1966) based on Robert Musil's novel.
A doctor's son of Huguenot ancestry.
Began his career as the titular teenage protagonists of Tonio Kröger and Young Törless.
Often seen in morbid roles as depressed artists, asocial types, effete or cowardly aristocrats, eccentrics and oddballs.