Prolific actor Udo Kier has passed away at the age of 81. The actor, who had previously worked on a vast array of projects including Blade and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, had also worked on a host of video games. Some of his notable roles in gaming included Yuri in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, and more recently, he was slated to also work on Kojima Productions’ horror title OD.
In light of Kier’s passing, Hideo Kojima took to social media to pay his own tribute to the storied actor. In his post, Kojima wrote about how he wasn’t able to work with Kier on OD due to an actor’s strike, but how the two still communicated quite often through emails.
“I’m at a loss for words. It all happened far too suddenly,” wrote Kojima. “Because of the strike, we weren’t able to shoot ‘OD’ for a long time, and we were forced to reschedule to next year. Even during that time, Udo and I exchanged emails frequently. We stayed in close contact. When we met in Milan at the end of September, he told me how much he was looking forward to the shoot starting up again next year. He was full of energy then too, making me laugh with his usual ‘Udo-isms.’”
“I still can’t believe this,” his post continued. “Udo wasn’t just an actor. He was truly an “icon” of his time. We’ve lost a great ‘icon’. There will never be another like him. Udo, rest in peace. I will never forget you.”
Kojima was referring to the SAG-AFTRA strike from late 2024 and earlier this year that had affected the development of OD. The effects largely came down to actors not being available for a lot of the work required for the game, including actor and environment scanning, as well as ADR and voice recording.
Kier has had quite an epic career, dating all the way back to the 1960s when he was cast in Road to Saint Tropez as the film’s protagonist. Since then, he has worked on several movies, including Blade, Flesh for Frankenstein, Armageddon, Johnny Mnemonic, and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
When it comes to games, Kier has been featured in a few games, with Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and its expansion, Yuri’s Revenge being among his major roles. He also offered his voice for the characters of Dr. Peter Straub from Call of Duty: WW2, as well as Erich in Martha is Dead. While he was slated to also work on OD, his passing has thrown that into question as it is unknown for now whether enough of the work related to him had been completed at Kojima Productions.
OD was originally unveiled all the way back in 2023. However, development has been slow, since Kojima Productions was also working on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, as well as the aforementioned SAG-AFTRA strikes. While the studio may have resumed working on the horror title, it has also announced that it is developing an espionage-based game dubbed Physint.
Image credit: Picture Alliance / DPA / Oliver Berg
