 friedrich wilhelm "f. w." murnau (born friedrich wilhelm plumpe; december 28, 1888march 11, 1931) was one of the most influential german film directors of the silent era, and a prominent figure in the expressionist movement in german cinema during the 1920s. murnau 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 as a company commander at the eastern front and was in the german air force, surviving several crashes without any severe injuries. arguably murnau's best known work is his 1922 film nosferatu, an adaptation of bram stoker's dracula. although not a commercial success due to copyright issues with stoker's novel, the film was considered a masterpiece of expressionist artwork. he was also known for his work with the 1924 film the last laugh and his interpretation of goethe's faust (1926). he later immigrated to hollywood in 1926, where he joined the fox studio and made three films, including sunrise (1927), 4 devils (1928) and city girl (1930). in 1931 murnau travelled to bora bora to make the film tabu with documentary film pioneer robert j. flaherty, who left after artistic disputes with murnau, who had to finish the movie on his own. a week prior to the opening of the film tabu, murnau died in a santa barbara hospital from injuries he had received in an automobile accident that occurred along the pacific coast highway near rincon beach, south of santa barbara. of the 21 films murnau directed, 8 have been completely lost, leaving 12 surviving in their entirety. one reel of his feature marizza, genannt die schmuggler-madonna survives. ==early years== murnau was born in bielefeld, province of westphalia, and grew up in kassel from the time he was seven. he had two brothers, bernhard and rober
1888_births 1931_deaths Gay_artists German-language_film_directors German_emigrants_to_the_United_States German_film_directors German_military_personnel_of_World_War_I Horror_film_directors LGBT_directors LGBT_people_from_Germany LuftstreitkrA$?fte_personnel People_from_Bielefeld People_from_the_Province_of_Westphalia Road_accident_deaths_in_California