Max Schreck

Murnau's Nosferatu. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6524 Hollywood Blvd. Elias Merhige's Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional film loosely based on the historical facts surrounding the making of F.W. Stone suffered a heart attack and died in Beverly Hills, California. Max Shreck is portrayed by actor Willem Dafoe in E. Stone appeared as the Judge in fifteen movies, beginning with You're Only Young Once. The character Max Shreck in the 1992 film Batman Returns may be named in homage of Schreck. In 1937, Stone assayed the role which would become his most famous, that of Judge Hardy in the Mickey Rooney Andy Hardy series.

Curiously, the word Schreck is also the German word for fright, or terror. After that, he appeared in several movies with Greta Garbo. His appearance in the highly-successful prison film The Big House furthered his career, and he starred with some of the biggest names in Hollywood in the 1930s, such stars as Norma Shearer, John Gilbert, Ramon Novarro and Jean Harlow. Their physiques do not match at all. Stone was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1929 for The Patriot. Suggestions that Schreck was really actor Alfred Abel can be seen to be wrong when the two actors are seen together. By then he had a white-haired, distinguished appearance, and began appearing in roles which matched his demeanor. He was married to actress Fanny Normann, who appeared in a few films, often credited as Fanny Schreck. He soon began acting, but his career was interrupted by World War I.

In 1926, Schreck returned to the Kammerspiele in Munich and continued to act in films right through the advent of sound until his death. He fought in the Spanish-American War, then returned to a career as a writer. Murnau expressed his repugnance over Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs (The Finances of the Grand Duke). Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, Stone's hair grew gray by the time he was twenty. Even the director, F.W. Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 - September 12, 1953) was an American actor. Schreck did appear in a comedy, albeit poorly made.

No prints of this film remain today. In 1923, Schreck appeared as a blind man in the acclaimed film Die Straße. Schreck's Count Orlok, with its bald, rat shaped head and long spidery fingers remains a haunting character. The company declared themselves bankrupt after the film's release to avoid paying copyright infringement costs to an irate Florence Stoker, the widow of Dracula author Bram Stoker.

In 1922 he was hired by Prana Film for their first and only production, Nosferatu. For three years between 1919 and 1922, Schreck appeared at the Kammerspiele in Munich whilst working on his first film Der Richter von Zalamea, adapted from a six act play, for Decla Bioscop. Many of Reinhart's troupe made a huge contribution to the cinema. Schreck then joined Max Reinhart's celebrated company of performers back in Berlin.

He made his stage debut in Messeritz and Speyer, and then toured Germany for two years appearing at theatres in Zittau, Erfurt, Bremen, Lucerne, Gera, and Frankfurt. He received his training at the Staatstheater in Berlin. Along with Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, Schreck is considered among the classic portrayers of Dracula. Max Schreck (June 11, 1879–November 26, 1936) was a German actor remembered today most for his lead role in Nosferatu.