Kinski Uncut: The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski [Paperback]

Klaus Kinski (Author), Joachim Neugroschel (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1997

An international bestseller, Klaus Kinski's memoir has become a cult classic, telling the story of his fascinating life, from his tortured, poverty-stricken childhood in prewar Berlin to his rise to international stardom as a film actor. "Probably the most outrageous autobiography ever--less a memoir than a hyperbolically pornographic performance piece."--Newsweek.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This is not a book for the squeamish. Disturbingly violent, sexual, and despairing, it is the autobiographical confession of an eternally restless man. It is the life story of Klaus Kinski, the superb screen actor who died in 1991. Kinski, who played in memorable films by David Lean, Sergio Leone, and Billy Wilder, is best known for his roles in Werner Herzog's Aguirre: The Wrath of God and Nosferatu the Vampyre. With graphic detail, Kinski narrates his excessive sexual exploits and fanatical adoration of his son. This book unravels the pitch-dark inner life of an actor who specialized in playing insane people, a man who well understood the psychology of the characters he portrayed. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Few celebrity memoirs are remotely as raw, pornographic and confessional as this notorious self-portrait by German actor Kinski (1926-1991), today best known for his brooding, expressionistic performances in Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God. When Random House, fearing legal problems, withdrew publication in 1989 of an earlier version of this book, All I Need Is Love, Kinski's memoir became an underground classic. This new and, according to Viking, unabridged translation shows little patience for documentary minutiae. So manic, hallucinatory and self-obsessed is Kinski's account of his rise from a dire childhood in the slums of Berlin to international stardom that it yields a far clearer picture of his seething inner life and incorrigible womanizing than of his film career. In an angry, raving, sometimes barely coherent present-tense narrative, Kinski describes being drafted into the Nazi army at 16; suffering in an English POW camp; gaining prominence in the fringe theater of a war-ravaged Germany. He goes on to cover his star turns in a slew of second-tier genre pictures shot in Italy and France as he contemptuously turned down directors like Fellini and Kurosawa, who wouldn't pay his escalating salary. He then discusses his roles in the Herzog films, plagued by production problems in the depths of the Amazon jungle. Kinski's take on Herzog drips bile and exudes dementia ("he doesn't have the foggiest inkling of how to make movies. Every scene, every angle, every shot is determined by me"). Throughout the memoir, however, acting is mere background to a lifelong sexual odyssey, including dozens of encounters explicitly rendered here?with young actresses, hookers, chambermaids and, in two memorable scenes, Alberto Moravia's wife and Idi Amin's daughter. In this raging memoir, the devil isn't just in the details: he's everywhere.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140255362
• ISBN-13: 978-0140255362
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #675,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Van Gogh of Acting., February 25, 2002

By 

the wizard of uz (Studio City, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinski Uncut: The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (Paperback)

Want to become a movie star?

Go to coffee houses around college campuses, stand on a chair and recite the poetry of Francois Villon; the medieval (1431-1463) student who killed a priest in a tavern brawl, was subsequently acquitted but still had to flee Paris and live a life of crime among outcasts.

As you pass the hat you find that you're doing such a magnificent job that soon you'll be able fill entire sports arenas with Shakespeare's solliloquiess---Performing them that is; you'll do Richard the Third, and then the audience will wait breathlessly while you change costumes and come back in character as Hamlet. Repeat with Othello, etc.

See how easy it is? Now do it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

To say Kinski was talented, or that he lived on the edge, or that he was a bit too intense for his friends or wives is, of course, an understatement. Nor did fame and money do much to quench the anger or appetite of this outcast.

One of his wives, as she entered the hospital to deliver their child, wondered why all the prostitutes on the street waved at them and seemed so friendly. Herzog, despite plotting Kinsi's murder, kept using him as his leading man.

Yet the greatest tribute may be not Herzog's but the fact that, during his lifetime many fellow actors spoke about how kind Kinski was to work with--a true accolade to a narcissistic egomaniac who apparently never lost his humanity by the expedient method of never being able to stop being hurt by life.

As he put it, he never allowed his wounds to fully close. Though the reader might conclude that he was unable to have his wounds close, no matter how much he tried.

Speaking of method, Kinski slams 'method acting' in this book:
'These morons go into a sort of St. Vitus dance as an exercise before performing' and 'What is this idiocy? As if a school could teach me how to feel'

Less credible is his slamming of Herzog: 'A megalomaniac' and 'I kicked him... Herzog groveled' Especially when one considers that his most memorable performances were in Herzog's films.

Kinski opens his autobiography with a quote from one of his idols, Van Gogh. Too lengthy to repeat here but the essence of it being that all artists are cripples trying clumsily to express what was expressed only once-- by Jesus Christ.

Unsurprisingly, Kinski also toured Europe late in his life, reading from the gospels and insulting some audience members who did not share his view of Jesus as a criminal hunted down by society, while hugging others who shared his 'outcast' faith.

Kinski also wondered if he was the reincarnation of Paganini, arguably the most proficient techniqual violinist of all time, and, of course, an intense womanizer.

Kinski did not spend much time doubting his sanity, it seems he considered it a rather futile endeavor in a world where it was self evident that everybody was mad.

However, neither did he glamorize lunacy as a standard, there is nothing romantically sophomoric in his descriptions of being held in an insane assylum for a couple of weeks. It's more vivid and horrific than his description of being held in a POW camp for years.

He made certain he would not be be incarcerated for alleged (?) madness again, just as-- despite his extravagant lifestyle--he also made certain he would not suffer starvation again, as he did in his childhood.

For all actors or artists one plain piece of advice: Get this book. Despite exaggerations (or downrigth lies) this is a superb testimony by one of the greatest of all time.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dirty, Silly, Outrageous, but a lot of Fun, May 3, 2000

By 

Corn Soup "sick of irony" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kinski Uncut: The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (Hardcover)

Open the book to any page, and chances are Kinski is describing a sexual encounter. Open it to another page and he is probably talking about how stupid Werner Herzog or any other famous director is. Kinski is sick, but sick in a good way. If you like stuff way out on the edge, then pick this up. Despite all the bluster and megalomania, there is something charismatic about the way Kinski writes, and he can even be quite tender, especially when describing his relationship with his son. But then again, he describes another type of relationship that he has with his older sister. But it's just that type of juxtapostiton that makes this book priceless. At the very least, it will make you laugh out loud.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wild, Fascinating., November 25, 2000

By 

Mr. Fellini "Fellini" (Orange County, California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kinski Uncut: The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski (Paperback)

Klaus Kinski, one of the greatest of all screen actors, takes us through a wild, dirty, sometimes insane yet philosophical trip in his autobiography, "Kinksi Uncut" (originally published as "I Need Love"). Kinski makes us explore his hard childhood up to his rising as a famous actor through stage and onto film. His writing shows no mercy and he obviously was not someone afraid to say what he thought to someone's face. It is unpleasant at times, and I think, that's what he wanted, for some of the writing to make you disturbed. The book also has a touch of dark comedy, especially when he attacks the legendary German film director Werner Herzog, calling him murderous and stupid (don't be taken in though. Herzog himself has stated that he helped Kinski find words in the dictionary to attack the director, so the book would sell and not be boring). There is vivid detail here, great stories and even eroticism (some good, some just plain unpleasant). This is a valuable biography because Kinski takes us into the actor's mind, into his art as he describes, for example, how for the Herzog film "Aguirre, The Wrath Of God," he didn't use prosthetics for his menacing, hurt appearance. He looked crippled because he WANTED to be crippled. Here is a crazy artist, a man who lived life in all it's insanity. Though you may not agree with things he says, you must admit, it is a good book. Not for the squemish or conservatives. It stands along with Luis Buñuel's "My Last Sigh" as one of the most memorable autobiographies ever written by a film artist.