Horst Werner Buchholz (4 December 1933 – 3 March 2003) was a German actor who appeared in more than 60 feature films from 1951 to 2002.

He never knew his biological father, but took the surname of his stepfather Hugo Buchholz, a shoemaker, whom his mother married in 1938.

Full-fledged stardom resulted from Confessions of Felix Krull (1957), in which he played the lead of a narcissistic high-class conman; it was directed by Kurt Hoffmann and based on the novel by Thomas Mann.

[8] In her autobiography, Mills revealed she had a schoolgirl crush on Buchholz during the filming of Tiger Bay and was saddened when the cast threw him an engagement party.

[citation needed] After The Magnificent Seven, which went on to become a classic, Buchholz played in the romantic drama Fanny (1961) with Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier, and the Berlin-set comedy One, Two, Three (1961), directed by Billy Wilder and starring James Cagney.

He proved to be popular with American audiences, but several missed opportunities thwarted the upward trajectory of his career and it began to stall.

[citation needed] On the advice of his agent, like many other actors who were asked, he turned down the starring role in A Fistful of Dollars (1964).

Buchholz moved to supporting roles in films like The Savage Bees (1976), Raid on Entebbe (1976), Dead of Night (1977), and The Amazing Captain Nemo (1978).

Buchholz's credits include Affari di famiglia (1986), Die Fräulein von damals (1986), and Der Schatz im Niemandsland (1987).

Buchholz turned up in Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992), Touch and Die (1992), Faraway, So Close!

In 1958, Buchholz married French actress Myriam Bru and they had two children: son Christopher, an actor, and daughter Beatrice.

[16] Buchholz died unexpectedly at the age of 69 on 3 March 2003 at Charité from pneumonia that developed after an operation for a hip fracture.