Editing Maximilian Schell (section)

=== 1960–1979: Breakthrough and acclaim ===
[[File:Maximilian Schell - 1961-jn.jpg|thumb|In ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' (1961)]]
In 1959, Schell acted in the role of a defence attorney on a live TV production, ''[[Judgment at Nuremberg (Playhouse 90)|Judgment at Nuremberg]]'', a fictionalized re-creation of the [[Nuremberg War Trials]], in an edition of ''[[Playhouse 90]]''. His performance in the TV drama was considered so good that he and [[Werner Klemperer]] were among the only members of the original cast selected to play the same parts in the 1961 film version. He won the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]], which was the first win for a German-speaking actor since World War II.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz2USfzaCUE |title=Maximilian Schell winning Best Actor |date=11 October 2011 |publisher=[[Oscars]] |via=YouTube |language=en}}, video clip, 2 minutes</ref> After winning the [[New York Film Critics]] award for his role, Schell recalled the pride he felt upon receiving a letter from his older sister [[Maria Schell]], who was already an award-winning actress, "I received the most wonderful letter from Maria. She wrote, 'Now, when you have my letter in your hand, a beautiful day is coming for you. I will be with you, proud, because I knew such recognition would come one day, leading to something even greater and better. . . . not only because you are close to me but because I count you among the truly great actors, and it is wonderful that besides that you are my brother.' Maria and I are very close".<ref name=Ross/>

According to Reimer, Schell gave a "bravura performance," where he tried to defend his clients, Nazi judges, "by arguing that all Germans share a collective guilt" for what happened.<ref name=Reimer/> Biographer James Curtis notes that Schell prepared for his part in the movie by "reading the entire forty-volume record of the Nuremberg trials."<ref>Curtis, James. ''Spencer Tracy: A Biography'', Random House (2011) p. 783</ref> Author Barry Monush describes the impact of Schell's acting, "Again, on the big screen, he was nothing short of electrifying as the counselor whose determination to place the blame for the [[Holocaust]] on anyone else but his clients, and brings morality into question".<ref name=Monush/><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAFeKZ1EsYo |title=Das Urteil von Nürnberg |date=29 August 2010 |publisher=TARONIPP |language=en |via=YouTube}}, video clip, 4 minutes</ref>

Producer-director [[Stanley Kramer]] assembled a star-studded [[ensemble cast]] which included [[Spencer Tracy]] and [[Burt Lancaster]].<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfOgZXIQ6fo |title=Judgment at Nuremberg Official Trailer #1 - Burt Lancaster Movie (1961) HD |language=en |date=5 October 2012 |publisher=Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers |via=YouTube}}, videa trailer, 3 minutes</ref> They "worked for nominal wages out of a desire to see the film made and for the opportunity to appear in it," notes film historian George McManus.<ref>Mcmanus, George. ''A Conservative Christian Reviews the Greatest Movies Ever Made'', Xulon Press (2003) p. 94</ref> Actor [[William Shatner]] remembers that, prior to the actual filming, "we understood the importance of the film we were making."<ref>Shatner, William. ''Up Till Now: The Autobiography'', Macmillan (2008) p. 76</ref> It was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, winning two.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} In 2011, Schell appeared at a 50th anniversary tribute to the film and his Oscar win, held in Los Angeles at the [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]], where he spoke about his career and the film.<ref>[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscar-alumni-maximilian-schell-academy-judgment-nuremberg-246676 "OSCAR ALUMNI: Maximilian Schell to Appear at Academy Tribute Tuesday"], ''The Hollywood Reporter'', 11 October 2011</ref>

Beginning in 1968 Schell began writing, producing, directing and acting in a number of his own films: Among those were [[The Castle (1968 film)|''The Castle'']] (1968), a German film based on the novel by [[Franz Kafka]], about a man trapped in a [[bureaucratic]] nightmare. Soon after he made [[First Love (1970 film)|''Erste Liebe (First Love)'']] (1970), based on a novel by [[Ivan Turgenev]]. The film was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]].

Schell's next film, ''[[The Pedestrian (film)|The Pedestrian]]'' (1974), is about a German tycoon "haunted by his Nazi past". In this film, notes one critic, "Schell probes the conscience and guilt in terms of the individual and of society, reaching to the universal heart of responsibility and moral inertia."<ref>''New York Magazine'', 22 April 1974 p. 14</ref> It was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film|Best Foreign Language Film]] Oscar<ref name="Oscars1974">{{Cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1974 |title=The 46th Academy Awards (1974) Nominees and Winners |access-date=3 December 2011 |work=oscars.org}}</ref> and was a "great and commercial success in Germany," notes [[Roger Ebert]].<ref name=Ebert/>

Schell then produced, directed, and acted as a supporting character in ''[[End of the Game]]'' (1975), a German crime thriller starring [[Jon Voight]] and [[Jacqueline Bisset]]. A few years later he co-wrote and directed the Austrian film [[Tales from the Vienna Woods (1979 film)|''Tales from the Vienna Woods'']] (1979). He had previously (1977) directed a stage production of the original play of that name by [[Ödön von Horváth]] at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]] in London.

[[File:Maximilian Schell 1961.jpg|thumb|Drawing of Schell after he won an Oscar for ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' (1961). Artist: [[Nicholas Volpe]]]]
During his career, as one of the few German-speaking actors working in English-language films, Schell was top billed in a number of [[Nazi Germany|Nazi]]-era themed films, including ''[[Counterpoint (1968 film)|Counterpoint]]'' (1968), ''[[The Odessa File (film)|The Odessa File]]'' (1974)'', [[The Man in the Glass Booth]]'' (1975), ''[[A Bridge Too Far (1977 film)|A Bridge Too Far]]'' (1977), ''[[Cross of Iron]]'' (1977) and ''[[Julia (1977 film)|Julia]]'' (1977). For the latter film, directed by [[Fred Zinnemann]], Schell was again nominated for an Oscar for his supporting role as an anti-Nazi activist.<ref name=Bock>Bock, Hans-Michael; Bergfelder, Tim. ''The Concise Cinegraph: Encyclopedia of German Cinema'', Berghahn Books (2009) p. 417</ref>

In a number of films Schell played the role of a Jewish character: as Otto Frank, Anne Frank's father, in ''[[The Diary of Anne Frank (1980 film)|The Diary of Anne Frank]]'' (1980); as the modern Zionist father in ''[[The Chosen (1981 film)|The Chosen]]'' (1981); in 1996, he played an [[Auschwitz]] survivor in ''[[Through Roses]]'', a German film, written and directed by [[Jürgen Flimm]];<ref name=Bock/> and in [[Left Luggage (film)|''Left Luggage'']] (1998) he played the father of a Jewish family.

In ''[[The Man in the Glass Booth]]'' (1975), adapted from the stage play by [[Robert Shaw (British actor)|Robert Shaw]], Schell played both a Nazi officer and a Jewish Holocaust survivor, in a character with a double identity. [[Roger Ebert]] describes the main character, Albert Goldman, as "mad, and immensely complicated, and he is hidden in a maze of identities so thick that no one knows for sure who he really is."<ref name=Ebert>Ebert, Roger. [http://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/interview-with-maximilian-schell "Interview with Maximilian Schell"], 17 August 1975</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23MTR9cVywU |title=The Man in the Glass Booth |via=YouTube |access-date=19 October 2022 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602181549/https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=23MTR9cVywU |url-status=dead}}, video trailer, 2.5 minutes</ref> Schell, who at that period in his career saw himself primarily as a director, felt compelled to accept the part when it was offered to him:

{{quote|It's just that once in a long while a role comes along that I simply can't turn down. This was a role like that — how could I say no to it?<ref name=Ebert/>}}

Schell's acting in the film has been compared favorably to his other leading roles, with film historian Annette Insdorf writing, "Maximilian Schell is even more compelling as the quick-tempered, quicksilver Goldman than in his previous Holocaust-related roles, including ''Judgment at Nuremberg'' and ''The Condemned of Altona"''. She gives a number of examples of Schell's acting intensity, including the courtroom scenes, where Schell's character, after supposedly being exposed as a German officer, "attacks Jewish meekness" in his defense, and "boasts that the Jews were sheep who didn't believe what was happening." The film eventually suggests that Schell's character is in fact a Jew, but one whose sanity has been compromised by "[[survivor guilt]]."<ref name=Insdorf>Insdorf, Annette. ''Indelible Shadows: Film and the Holocaust'', 3rd ed., Cambridge Univ. Press (2003) p. 171</ref> Schell was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] and the [[Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama|Golden Globe Award for Best Actor]] for his performance. To avoid being [[typecasting (acting)|typecast]], Schell also played more diverse characters in numerous films throughout his career: he played a museum treasure thief in ''[[Topkapi (film)|Topkapi]]'' (1964); the [[Simon Bolivar|eponymous Venezuelan revolutionary]] in [[Simón Bolívar (1969 film)|''Simón Bolívar'']] (1969); a 19th-century ship captain in ''[[Krakatoa, East of Java]]'' (1969); a [[Captain Nemo]]-esque scientist/starship commander in the science fiction film, ''[[The Black Hole (1979 film)|The Black Hole]]'' (1979).