Oscar-winning actor Maximilian Schell dies at 83

In this Jan. 30, 2007 file picture actor Maximilian Schell poses in front of a poster of his sister Maria Schell in Frankfurt, Germany. Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, who won the best actor Oscar in the early 1960s for his portrayal of a defense attorney in the drama “Judgment at Nuremberg,” has died. He was 83. AP

VIENNA  — Austrian actor Maximilian Schell, who won the best actor Oscar in the early 1960s for his portrayal of a defense attorney in the drama “Judgment at Nuremberg,” has died. He was 83.

Schell’s agent Patricia Baumbauer said Saturday that Schell died overnight at a hospital in Innsbruck following a “sudden and serious illness,” the Austria Press Agency reported.

The Vienna-born Schell won his Oscar in 1961 and later was honored with further Oscar nominations — in the best actor category for “The Man in the Glass Booth” in 1975, and for best supporting actor in “Julia” in 1977.

Born to a Swiss writer and an Austrian actress, he was the younger brother of Maria Schell, an icon of the German-speaking film world, who died in 2005.