Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe; December 28,
1888 â€" March 11, 1931) was a German film director.He was greatly
influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he
had seen at the age of 12, and became a friend of director Max
Reinhardt. During World War I he served in the Imperial German Army,
initially as an infantry company commander on the Eastern Front.
Murnau later transferred to the German Army's Flying Corps, as an
observer/gunner, and survived several crashes without any severe
injuries.One of Murnau's acclaimed works is the film Nosferatu (1922),
an adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Although not a commercial
success, owing to copyright issues with Stoker's estate, the film is
considered a masterpiece of German Expressionist cinema. He later
directed the film The Last Laugh (1924), as well as a 1926
interpretation of Goethe's Faust. He emigrated to Hollywood in 1926,
where he joined the Fox Studio and made three films: Sunrise (1927), 4
Devils (1928) and City Girl (1930). Sunrise has been regarded by
critics and film directors as among the best films ever made.Murnau
travelled to Bora Bora to make the film Tabu (1931) with documentary
film pioneer Robert J. Flaherty. Flaherty left after artistic disputes
with Murnau, who had to finish the movie on his own. A week prior to
the opening of Tabu, Murnau died in a Santa Barbara hospital from
injuries he sustained in an automobile accident that occurred along
the Pacific Coast Highway near Rincon Beach, southeast of Santa
Barbara. F. W. Murnau Biography, Weight & Height, Age, Nationality & Ethnicity
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