The highlight of Tom Six’s The Human Centipede is unquestionably the chilling performance from German actor Dieter Laser, who played the evil Dr. Heiter and subsequently returned to play new character Bill Boss in The Human Centipede III. Unfortunately, we’ve learned the sad news via the actor’s social channels that Laser passed away on February 29th, 2020.

Laser won Best Actor at the Austin Fantastic Fest back in 2009 for his performance in The Human Centipede, which elevated the absurd premise into a terrifying horror movie. He also won the Fright Meter Award for Best Actor in 2010. Many years prior, Laser won a German Film Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for 1975’s John Glückstadt.

The actor’s bio on IMDb details his career as an actor, “After 14 passionate years on stage and as a co-founder and member of the board of the meanwhile most famous German theatre, the Schaubuehne in Berlin, he decided to become a freelancer and got his first work for the cinema: the title role in John Glueckstadt. For this performance he won the German Film Award in Gold. Since then, and besides countless guest appearances on the most important stages of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxemburg, with parts like Don Juan, Valmont, Peer Gynt, Macbeth, Captain Ahab etc. Dieter Laser played in about 65 films, at times co-starring with “Gods” like Burt Lancaster, Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Glenn Close, John Malkovich etc.”

Laser was most recently seen in the 2017 horror movie November, and his other film credits include I Am the Other Woman (2006), Baltic Storm (2003), Big Girls Don’t Cry (2002), The Ogre (1996), Conversation with the Beast (1996), The Man Inside (1990), Don Quixote’s Children (1981), The Elixirs of the Devil (1976) and The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975).

Dieter Laser was 78 years old.

The Human Centipede director Tom Six wrote on Twitter today, “I’m totally shocked Dieter passed away. He was a force of nature, a unique human being and an iconic actor. I’m so damn proud we created pop culture together. Wished we could have made many more movies. RIP my friend, you will live forever on screen!”