Helmut Berger dies at 78, the iconic actor of Visconti's 'The Fall of the Gods'

Helmut Berger (1944, Bad Isch, Austria), icon of European cinema of the sixties and seventies who helped break down certain sexual taboos of that time, died this Thursday in Salzburg (Vienna) a few days before his 79th birthday. The Austrian was discovered as an actor by Italian director Luchino Visconti, of whom he was a lover for years. His life was marked by great successes in the cinema such as The Fall of the Gods (1969), The Portrait of Dorian Gray (1970) or Ash Wednesday (1973), but also by scandals and depressions, especially after the death of Visconti in 1976. The performer, known for embodying bisexual and narcissistic characters, was a gay icon and twice received (2008 and 2010) the Teddy Prize of the German homosexual collective.

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Life and miseries of Helmut Berger, that 'sex symbol'

Born into a wealthy family of hoteliers in Austria's Salzburg region, Berger learned English, French and Italian during study stays in Paris, Geneva, London and Italy. In 1964, at the age of 20, he met Visconti, who was 58, that is, 38 years older than the then young Berger, who dreamed of becoming an actor.

Thanks to her rare beauty and marked temperament, she made a lightning career and interpreted films considered anthology, especially with Visconti. His first major success was in The Fall of the Gods (1969), directed by his mentor, for which Berger was nominated for a Golden Globe. Successes followed in films such as The Picture of Dorian Gray (1970), The Garden of the Finzi-Contini (1970) or Ludwig (1972). In Ash Wednesday (1973) Berger appeared on the big screen alongside Hollywood myths such as Elizabeth Taylor and Henry Fonda.

Helmut Berger in an image of 'Ludwig'.

At the time, Vogue magazine claimed that Helmut Berger was the most attractive man in the world. The actor personified the breaking of sexual taboos in European cinema and became especially known for his portrayals of narcissistic and bisexual characters. In his autobiography, Ich, published in 1998, the actor claimed to have had sex with dozens of celebrities of the time, such as Rudolf Nureyev, Britt Ekland, Ursula Andress, Nathalie Delon, Linda Blair, Jerry Hall, Bianca and Mick Jagger.

After the death of Visconti, who was not only his mentor and lover but a kind of "surrogate father", the actor fell into a deep crisis, with an attempt at suicide, excessive alcohol and a decadent lifestyle. He went on to say that after his death he could never fall in love again. In the eighties he barely appeared on the big screens, although he participated in nine episodes of the American series Dynasty.

The actor photographed in 2008.Peter Bischoff (Getty Images)

In 1990 he starred in the third installment of The Godfather, playing the role of a corrupt banker. A few years later, in 1994, he married Italian actress Francesca Guidato, a marriage that lasted about 15 years. From the 2000s she moved away from cinema and television to take care of her elderly mother in Salzburg, who died in 2009. He reappeared in public life in 2013 when he was a candidate in a television survival contest in the Australian jungle. In 2018, at the age of 74, he made his debut in the theater, when he acted at the Volksbühne in Berlin in a play by Spanish director Albert Serra, Liberté, where he played a baron. A year later, he announced that due to his delicate state of health, after suffering several pneumonias, he was ending his acting career.

His agent, Helmut Werner, told local media on Thursday that Berger "lived to the end happy, satisfied and in good spirits in Salzburg." And he concluded with a quote from the deceased: "I lived three lives. And that's in four languages. I don't regret anything!"