He was born December 28th 1888 in Blelefeld, Germany and died March 11th 1931 in Santa Barbara, California. After the family moved to Kassel in 1882, he studied philology and the history of art. After the First World War where he fights as a lieutenant and pilot he shoots the first two films in Berlin. Just one, Satan, arrived to us with a fragment of three minutes. After other films that also went lost, he directed in 1921 The Haunted Castle, the first film of fear in which he ventured. In 1922 he made his first masterpiece Nosferatu. Between 1924 and 1926 he shot three other important films, all interpreted by the actor Emil Jannings (The last laugh, Tartuffe and Faust). With the advent of Nazism he decides to accept the proposals of Hollywood and runs Aurora which is presented to the public in 1929. Before his death he manages to direct another masterpiece, Tabu, written together with the great director Robert Flaherty.
