Kinski grew up in Berlin, was drafted into the German army and spent much of World War II as a British POW. He began acting on the stage, quickly gaining a reputation for his ferocious talent and equally ferocious temper. He started acting in films shortly afterwards, showing complete lack of discrimination as to their quality (a complete filmography is almost impossible to establish), but turning out memorable work for director Werner Herzog a similarly driven and obsessive character. Herzog and Kinski pushed each other to extremes over a fifteen-year working relationship, but finally split after irreconcilable differences when filming 'Cobra Verde'. Kinski subsequently directed and starred in 'Paganini', his only film as director. His autobiography 'Ich brauche Liebe', one of the most vicious attacks on the film business ever written, has been withdrawn for legal reasons.