MAXIMILIAN SCHELL (Victor Kovner) Maximilian Schell was born in Vienna, and raised in Switzerland, the son of well-known actress Margarethe Noe von Nordberg and renowned writer/poet Hermann Ferdinand Schell. His sister, Maria Schell, was already an international movie star when Mr. Schell made his American screen debut in Edward Demetryk's "THE YOUNG LIONS" (1958), co-starring with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. This was followed by his starring role in Stanley Kramer's "JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG" (1961), for which he won the Best Actor Academy Award. After several more starring roles in such films as Daniel Mann's "FIVE FINGER EXERCISE" (1962); Vittoria De Sica's "THE CONDEMNED OF ALTONA" (1963); Jules Dassin's "TOPKAPI" (1964); J. Lee Thomson's RETURN FROM THE ASHES" (1965); Sidney Lumet's "THE DEADLY AFFAIR" (1967) and Ralph Nelson's "COUNTERPOINT" (1968), Mr. Schell produced and acted in a much acclaimed adaptation of Franz Kafka's "THE CASTLE" (1968). He then wrote, produced and directed a film based on Turgenev's "FIRST LOVE" (1970), and did the same with "THE PEDESTRIAN" in 1974, which was nominated as Best Foreign Language Film by the Academy. Other directorial film work include Durrenmatt's "THE JUDGE AND HIS HANGMAN (END OF THE GAME)" and a film adaptation of Horvath's "TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS" (which he had directed on stage at the National Theatre in London.) Other acting roles which followed include: Ronald Neame's "THE ODESSA FILE" (1974); Arthur Hiller's "THE MAN IN THE GLASS BOOTH" (1975), for which he received another Oscar nomination and was nominated for a Golden Globe; Fred Zinnemann's "JULIA" (1977), for which he won The New York Film Critics' Award and was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe; Jeremy Paul Kagan's "THE CHOSEN" (1981); Andrew Bergman's "THE FRESHMAN" (1990); Joseph Sargeant's "MISS ROSEWHITE" (1992); Mikael Salomon's "A FAR OFF PLACE" and Fons Rademakers's "THE ROSE GARDEN" (1993) and James Gray's "LITTLE ODESSA" (1994). In 1958 Mr. Schell made his Broadway debut in Ira Levin's "INTERLOCK" and iin 1965 starred in John Osborn's groundbreaking "A PATRIOT FOR ME" in London and on Broadway. He has twice played "HAMLET" on stage, first under the direction of the legendary Gustaf Grundgens and later under his own diretion in Munich. For five years from 1978 to 1982 he portrayed "EVERYMAN" at the Salzburg Festival. In 1984 Mr. Schell made the widely hailed Academy Award nominated documentary "MARLENE" about screen legend Marlene Dietrich which also won the New York Film Critics Award. In 1992 he won a Golden Globe for his performance as Lenin in a T.V. production of "STALIN," directed by Ivan Passer, just one of the countless roles he has played on television since the 1950's. In 1990 his first novel "THE REBEL" was published. In 2000 Mr.Schell was awarded "The Actor of the Millennium" at the Baltic Pearl Film Festival, in Latvia. Last year he starred on Broadway (playing the role originally created on film by Burt Lancaster), in the Broadway production of "JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG," and in Los Angeles he directed to great acclaim Wagner's "LOHENGRIN" for the Los Angeles Opera. He has just completed directing a documentary film about his sister called "MY SISTER MARIA," which is earning praise throughout Europe.