Born in Avignon France he found work as a stage actor until the early 1970s when he began working on films His most famous role was in John Miliuss historical epic The Wind and the Lion 1975 where he played a German colonel He also appeared playing similar characters in the Spaghetti Westerns A Fistful of Dynamite 1971 and My Name is Nobody 1973 He also appeared as the zombified artist Schweick in Lucio Fulcis cult horror film The Beyond 1981 He spoke fluent English and German