Udo Kier, the German actor who appeared in 275 roles across Hollywood and European cinema, including multiple films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Gus Van Sant and Lars von Trier, has died aged 81.

Axar.az reports, ciitng Guardian, Kier died on Sunday morning, his partner Delbert McBride told Variety. The actor died in hospital in Palm Springs, California, his friend the photographer Michael Childers announced on social media. No cause of death was given.

In the 80s, he met the young provocative Danish film-maker Von Trier, who cast him in his 1987 TV production of Medea and started a collaboration that spanned decades. Kier, who was also godfather to Von Trier’s son, appeared in the director’s projects Epidemic, Europa, The Kingdom, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville, Melancholia and Nymphomaniac: Vol. II.

Van Sant, who loved Kier’s performances in Frankenstein and Dracula, offered him his first American role in 1991 film My Own Private Idaho. Madonna, a fan of My Own Private Idaho, cast Kier as her swinging husband in her 1992 book Sex, then in her music videos for Erotica and Deeper and Deeper. Kier also appeared in music videos for Supertramp, Korn and Eve.

Through the 1990s Kier went on to play small but memorable roles in many Hollywood films including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Johnny Mnemonic, Armageddon, End of Days, and Blade.