Command & Conquer‘s legendary Lord Yuri, Udo Kier, has died aged 81. The news of the death of the well-loved German actor on Sunday morning was shared by his partner Delbert McBride, followed by an impassioned online tribute from Hideo Kojima.
For games players, Kier is most immediately identifiable as Lord Yuri, in what’s widely considered to be one of the best Command & Conquer games, Red Alert 2. Leader of the Soviet Psychic Corps, Yuri was the antagonist of the game, and the star of the esteemed expansion pack, Yuri’s Revenge. The C&C games were famous for their use of FMV and real-world actors, making Kier a very familiar face to a generation of strategy gamers.
Over his career, Kier appeared in over 220 films, working with legends like Lars von Trier, Werner Herzog, Gus Van Saint and Alexander Payne, and most recently was due to star in Hideo Kojima’s mysterious next game, OD. In the game, co-written with Jordan Peele, Kier was due to play one of the lead roles, alongside Sophia Lillis and Hunter Schafer. Kojima reacted to the news of Kier’s death this morning on X, calling the actor an “icon of his time.”
According to Kojima’s post, OD‘s filming (the game, like so many of the creator’s, was due to use motion capture and astonishingly photorealistic faces for its characters) was delayed until 2026 by the recent voice actors strike, meaning none of Kier’s scenes have been shot. Kojima stated that despite this, the two had stayed in close contact, emailing one another and meeting up as recently as September. “He told me how much he was looking forward to the shoot starting up again next year,” said the video game director.
I’m at a loss for words. It all happened far too suddenly.
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… pic.twitter.com/aRpP1i38CE— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) November 24, 2025
Still a prolific actor in his 80s, Udo Kier had multiple projects in pre-production at the time of his death alongside OD, on top of the three movies in which he’d already appeared this year. Other video game roles for the actor included 2022’s Martha Is Dead and 2017’s Call of Duty: WWII, but his portrayal as the ESP-wielding Lord Yuri will always be his most iconic.
