PHOTOS: 15 pics that show why bi movie star Horst Buchholz was considered the “German James Dean”
Queerty love paying homage to our queer Hollywood legends of yore, so with this week marking what would have been noted bisexual Horst Werner Buchholz’s 90th birthday, it was the perfect time to show our appreciate for this underrated actor.Often referred to as the “German James Dean” (for reasons these swoon-worthy photos make perfectly clear), Buchholz was born in Berlin in 1938, fleeing at a young age to the former Czechoslovakia during World War II.After the war, he returned to Berlin and is said to have “barely finished” school so that he could pursue his passion for acting, appearing in theatrical productions, then eventually nabbing a few supporting roles in German films and voice dubbing for foreign-language films like animated classic Pinocchio and the queer Western Johnny Guitar.With his movie-star looks, Buchholz quickly became a name in German cinema, especially thanks to his zeitgeist-y rebel youth drama Teenage Wolfpack in 1956, which is when he began earning those James Dean comparisons.Before long, he crossed over with international success, too, making his English film debut in the 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay opposite teen star Hayley Mills and her father John.
The next year, he appeared in the iconic, star-studded Western The Magnificent Seven alongside marquee names like Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen.Buchholz’s career continued for decades, spanned genres and mediums, and continued to ping-pong between German and English projects, also including roles in the Billy Wilder comedy One, Two, Three, the sweeping romance Fanny, and, later, a supporting turn in Roberto Benigni’s Oscar-winning Life Is Beautiful.
His TV credits include classics like Fantasy Island and Charlie’s Angels.A post shared by Gr8erDays (@gr8erdays)In 1958, he married French actress Myriam Bru, and though they remained together for the rest of his life, Buchholz eventually revealed that he was bisexual.
