Vintage Hunk: Horst Buchholz

Horst Buchholz, a.k.a. the German James Dean, had a brief career in American films, highlighted by sizzling performances in The Magnificent Seven and One, Two, Three.

The sexy and beautiful Buchholz was mesmerizing in his early films, and late in life confirmed his bisexuality.

Horst Werner Buchholz was born in Berlin in 1933, the very year that Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. Born out of wedlock, Horst took the surname of his stepfather, whom his mother married in 1938. (His half sister nicknamed him Hotte, which we will translate as “Hottie!”)

After some minor stage and film roles in his native Germany, Buchholz began his career in English films with the wonderful Tiger Bay, which featured a young Hayley Mills in her first major role. Buchholz plays a Polish sailor who commits a murder that is witnessed by the young girl.

The film was an art house hit that made Mills a child star and led Buchholz to Hollywood, where he co-starred in the classic western The Magnificent Seven. In his American debut, Horst was excellent in the ensemble cast that included Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner.

1961 was Horst Buchholz’s best year in films. Co-starring with Maurice Chevalier and Leslie Caron in the romantic hit Fanny, he was moving as the young man who deserts the pregnant Caron to purse his wanderlust. Ravishingly photographed in color, both Caron and Buchholz were beautiful in this vastly underrated film.

Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three was the zenith of Horst's ascending career. This fast-paced satire was filmed in West Berlin during the height of the cold war and features James Cagney (in his last starring role) as a Coca Cola bottling executive.

Amid some of the fastest dialogue delivery in film history, Horst plays the young East German communist secretly married to Cagney's boss daughter (played by Pamela Tiffin). The bulk of the film has Cagney trying to convert the young firebrand into a capitalist count in 48 hours. Buchholz was never better than as the poor commie being retrofitted into a good American. A highlight of the film is Cagney arranging a new wardrobe for the shirtless Buchholz and upon discovering that Horst does not wear underwear, screaming "No wonder we are losing the cold war!"

Despite rapturous reviews, One, Two, Three was not a box office success. This, combined with Horst Buchholz being labeled difficult, pretty much ended his American career. Unfortunately, most of his later films were lackluster.

Horst Buchholz died in 2003 at the age of 69. Although he had been married since 1958 and had a son, Buchholz publicly revealed in a 2000 German tabloid interview that he was bisexual. His son later made a film about his father called Mein Papa.

Horst Buchholz was sexy and talented, and for a year or two he was one of the bright lights in American films.

To see him at his sexy best watch One, Two Three!