George Reeves

However, some friends and associates disputed this explanation, and fans have speculated in the years since as to whether his death was actually a murder, and if so, at whose hand, or whether he faked his own death and disappeared. Murnau's Nosferatu. An official inquiry concluded that the death was suicide. Elias Merhige's Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional film loosely based on the historical facts surrounding the making of F.W. Shortly thereafter, a shot rang out, and he was found dead in his bedroom with a gunshot wound to the head. Max Shreck is portrayed by actor Willem Dafoe in E. In the early morning hours of June 16, 1959, three days before a planned wedding to Lenore Lemmon, he went to bed after a long night with guests. The character Max Shreck in the 1992 film Batman Returns may be named in homage of Schreck.

During World War II, Reeves enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps and appeared in war training films. Curiously, the word Schreck is also the German word for fright, or terror. Besides playing Superman on TV, he also had minor roles in a number of movies, including Gone With the Wind, and From Here to Eternity. Their physiques do not match at all. George Bessolo Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer) (January 6, 1914–June 16, 1959) was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Superman on television in the 1950s. Suggestions that Schreck was really actor Alfred Abel can be seen to be wrong when the two actors are seen together. He was married to actress Fanny Normann, who appeared in a few films, often credited as Fanny Schreck.

In 1926, Schreck returned to the Kammerspiele in Munich and continued to act in films right through the advent of sound until his death. Murnau expressed his repugnance over Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs (The Finances of the Grand Duke). Even the director, F.W. 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.