F. W. Murnau

Friedrich Wilhelm "F. W." Murnau (28 December 1888 – 11 March 1931) was a German movie director. He was one of the most influential directors of the silent movie era.  He was born in Bielefeld and attended the University of Heidelberg. He studied art history. He was openly gay.Alternatives to Hollywood He was 6'4 (193 cm). He was said to have an icy disposition and an obsession with film.F.W. Murnau. Eisner, Lotte H. (1964). Le Terrain Vague. ASIN: B0029LAF1M He was a combat pilot during World War I. He directed his first movie Der Knabe in Blau () in 1919.

Murnau's most famous movie is Nosferatu (1922). It was based on the book Dracula. Faust was Murnau's last German movie. Nosferatu and Faust were two of the first films to have original music. Some of his German movies were considered to be Expressionist movies.

Murnau went to Hollywood in 1926. He joined the Fox Studio. He made Sunrise in 1927. It did not make a lot of money. It did receive an Academy Award in 1929. Murnau's next two movies were sound movies. They were not well received. Murnau was disappointed. He quit Fox. He went to the South Pacific. In Bora Bora he made Tabu. The movie was censored in the United States for images of bare-breasted Polynesian women. Murnau died in an automobile accident in Santa Barbara, California. He is buried in Stahnsdorf near Berlin.Only 11 people attended his funeral. One of them was Greta Garbo.

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Category:1888 births
Category:1931 deaths
Category:Gay men
Category:German LGBT people
Category:German military personnel of World War I
Category:German movie directors
Category:German movie producers
Category:LGBT directors
Category:People from Bielefeld
Category:Road accident deaths in California