F . W . Murnau 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 made friends with 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 . Murnau ' s best known work was 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 emigrated to Hollywood in 1926 , where he joined the Fox Studio and made three films , including " " ( 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 . Although some of Murnau ' s films have been lost , most still survive . 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 Robert , and two stepsisters , Ida and Anna . Murnau ' s mother Otilie Volbracht was the second wife of his father Heinrich Plumpe , the owner of a cloth - factory in the north - western part of Germany . Their villa was often turned into a stage for little plays , directed by Murnau , who already read books of Schopenhauer , Nietzsche , Shakespeare and Ibsen plays at the age of 12 . He took the name " Murnau " from the town of Murnau am Staffelsee . The 6 ' 11 ( 210 cm ) director was said to have an icy , imperious disposition and an obsession with film . He was openly gay . Murnau studied philology at the University in Berlin and later art - history and literature in Heidelberg , where director Max Reinhardt saw him at a students ' performance and decided to invite him to his actor - school . He soon became friends with Franz Marc , Else Lasker - Schüler and Hans Ehrenbaum - Degele . In World War I Murnau served as a company commander at the eastern front . Murnau joined the German air force in northern France two years later and survived eight crashes without severe injuries . He landed in Switzerland where he was interned and won a prize for the best production - concept . Career . After World War I ended , Murnau returned to Germany where he soon established his own film studio with actor Conrad Veidt . His first feature - length film , The Boy in Blue , a drama inspired by the famous Thomas Gainsborough painting , was released in 1919 . He explored the popular theme of dual personalities , much like Robert Louis Stevenson ' s Dr . Jekyll and Mr . Hyde , in 1920 ' s " Der Janus - Kopf " starring Veidt and Bela Lugosi . Murnau ' s most famous film is " Nosferatu " , a 1922 adaptation of Bram Stoker ' s " Dracula " for which Stoker ' s widow sued for copyright infringement . Murnau lost the lawsuit and all prints of the film were ordered to be destroyed , but bootleg prints survived . The vampire , played by German stage actor Max Schreck , resembled a rat which was known to carry the . The origins of the word are from Stoker ' s novel , where it is used by the Romanian townsfolk to refer to Count Dracula and presumably , other undead . Nearly as important as " Nosferatu " in Murnau ' s filmography was " The Last Laugh " ( " Der Letzte Mann " , German " The Last Man " ) ( 1924 ) , written by Carl Mayer ( a very prominent figure of the " Kammerspielfilm " movement ) and starring Emil Jannings . The film introduced the subjective point of view camera , where the camera " sees " from the eyes of a character and uses visual style to convey a character ' s psychological state . It also anticipated the cinéma vérité movement in its subject matter . The film also used the " unchained camera technique " , a mix of tracking shots , pans , tilts , and dolly moves . Also , unlike the majority of Murnau ' s other works , " The Last Laugh " is considered a " Kammerspielfilm " with Expressionist elements . Unlike expressionist films , " Kammerspielfilme " are categorized by their chamber play influence , involving a lack of intricate set designs and story lines / themes regarding social injustice towards the working class es . Murnau ' s last German film was the big budget " Faust " ( 1926 ) with Gösta Ekman as the title character , Emil Jannings as Mephisto and Camilla Horn as Gretchen . Murnau ' s film draws on older traditions of the legendary tale of Faust as well as on Goethe ' s classic version . The film is well known for a sequence in which the giant , winged figure of Mephisto hovers over a town sowing the seeds of plague . " Nosferatu " ( music by Hans Erdmann ) and " Faust " ( music by Werner R . Heymann ) were two of the first films to feature original film score s . Hollywood . Murnau emigrated to Hollywood in 1926 , where he joined the Fox Studio and made " " ( 1927 ) , a movie often cited by film scholars as one of the greatest films of all time . Filmed in the Fox Movietone sound - on - film system ( music and sound effects only ) , " Sunrise " was not a financial success , but received several Oscars at the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 . In winning the Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production it shared what is now the Best Picture award with the movie " Wings " . Murnau ' s next two films , the ( now lost ) " 4 Devils " ( 1928 ) and " City Girl " ( 1930 ) , were modified to adapt to the new era of sound film and were not well received . Their poor receptions disillusioned Murnau , and he quit Fox to journey for a while in the South Pacific . Together with documentary film pioneer Robert J . Flaherty , Murnau travelled to Bora Bora to make the film " Tabu " in 1931 . Flaherty left after artistic disputes with Murnau who had to finish the movie on his own . The movie was censored in the United States for images of bare - breasted Polynesia n women . The film was originally shot by cinematographer Floyd Crosby as half - talkie , half - silent , before being fully restored as a silent film — Murnau ' s preferred medium . Death . A week prior to the opening of the film " Tabu " , Murnau drove up the coast from Los Angeles , California in a hired Rolls Royce . The young driver , a 14 - year - old Philippine servant , crashed the car against an electric pole . Murnau hit his head and died in a hospital the next day , in nearby Santa Barbara , before the premiere of his last film . Murnau was entombed in Southwest Cemetery in Stahnsdorf ( Südwest - Kirchhof Stahnsdorf ) near Berlin . Only 11 people attended the funeral . Among them were Robert J . Flaherty , Emil Jannings , Greta Garbo and Fritz Lang , who delivered the eulogy . Garbo also commissioned a death mask of Murnau , which she kept on her desk during her years in Hollywood . Derivative works . In 2000 , director E . Elias Merhige released " Shadow of the Vampire " , a fictionalization of the making of " Nosferatu " . Murnau is portrayed by John Malkovich . In the film , Murnau is so dedicated to making the film genuine that he actually hires a real vampire ( Willem Dafoe ) to play Count Orlok .