FILM DIRECTOR

F. W. Murnau

1888 - 1931

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Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (from 1910; born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28, 1888 – March 11, 1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era. An erudite child with an early interest in film, Murnau eventually studied philology and art before director Max Reinhardt recruited him to his acting school. During World War I, he served in the Imperial German Army, initially as an infantry company commander and communications officer and later with the German Army's Flying Corps as an observer/gunner. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. F. W. Murnau is the 76th most popular film director (up from 84th in 2019), the 519th most popular biography from Germany (up from 523rd in 2019) and the 6th most popular German Film Director.

F. W. Murnau is most famous for his 1922 film Nosferatu, which is an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

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Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, F. W. Murnau ranks 76 out of 2,041Before him are Claude Chabrol, Chuck Jones, Luc Besson, David Cronenberg, Elia Kazan, and John Waters. After him are Tony Scott, Agnès Varda, Dziga Vertov, Alain Resnais, Franco Zeffirelli, and Alan Parker.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1888, F. W. Murnau ranks 27Before him are Frits Zernike, Raymond Chandler, Eugene O'Neill, Selman Waksman, Friedrich Fromm, and Inge Lehmann. After him are Johannes Itten, Friedrich Olbricht, Andrei Tupolev, Gerrit Rietveld, Maurice Chevalier, and Anton Makarenko. Among people deceased in 1931, F. W. Murnau ranks 20Before him are Carl Nielsen, Joseph Joffre, Theo van Doesburg, Arnold Bennett, Geli Raubal, and George Herbert Mead. After him are Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Armand Fallières, Nathan Söderblom, Peter Kürten, Carin Göring, and Eugène Ysaÿe.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, F. W. Murnau ranks 519 out of 7,253Before him are Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi (1804), Jost Gippert (1956), Jean Paul (1763), Robert Ley (1890), Wilhelm Schickard (1592), and Hans Geiger (1882). After him are Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574), Bernhard von Bülow (1849), Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (1801), Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (1793), Caroline of Baden (1776), and Walter Schellenberg (1910).

Among FILM DIRECTORS In Germany

Among film directors born in Germany, F. W. Murnau ranks 6Before him are Leni Riefenstahl (1902), Wim Wenders (1945), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945), Michael Haneke (1942), and Werner Herzog (1942). After him are Ernst Lubitsch (1892), Wolfgang Petersen (1941), Volker Schlöndorff (1939), Max Ophüls (1902), Roland Emmerich (1955), and Margarethe von Trotta (1942).