Max Schrek

Friedrich Gustav Maximilian Schreck Eickhoff, Stefan. 2007 (6 September 1879 – 20 February 1936), Walk, Ines. 2006. known professionally as Max Schreck, was a German actor, best known for his lead role as the vampire Count Orlok in the film ''Nosferatu'' (1922).

Early life

Max Schreck was born in Berlin-Friedenau, on 6 September 1879. Six years later, his father bought a house in the independent rural community of Friedenau, then part of the district of Teltow. He was baptized at St. Matthew's Church in Berlin.

Schreck's father did not approve of his son's ever-growing enthusiasm for theatre. His mother provided the boy with money, which he secretly used for acting lessons, although only after the death of his father did he attend drama school. After graduating, he travelled briefly across the country with poet and dramatist Demetrius Schrutz.

Schreck had engagements in Mulhouse, Meseritz, Speyer, Rudolstadt, Erfurt and Weissenfels, and his first extended stay at The Gera Theatre. Greater engagements followed, especially in Frankfurt am Main. From there, he went to Berlin for Max Reinhardt and the Munich Kammerspiele for Otto Falckenberg.

Schreck received his training at the Berliner Staatstheater (State Theatre of Berlin), completing it in 1902. He made his stage début in Meseritz and Speyer, and then toured Germany for two years, appearing at theatres in Zittau, Erfurt, Bremen, Lucerne, Gera, and Frankfurt am Main. Schreck then joined Max Reinhardt's company of performers in Berlin.. Retrieved 26 December 2008 Many members of Reinhardt's troupe went on to make significant contributions to the German film industry.

Career

For three years between 1919 and 1922, Schreck appeared at the Munich Kammerspiele, including a role in the expressionist production of Bertolt Brecht's début, (''Drums in the Night'') in which he played the "freakshow landlord" Glubb. During this time, he also worked on his first film '' The Mayor of Zalamea'', adapted from a six-act play, for Decla Bioscop.

In 1921, he was hired by Prana Film for its first and only production, ''Nosferatu'' (1922), an unlicenced adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel ''Dracula''. The company declared itself bankrupt after the film was released to avoid paying copyright infringement costs to the author's widow, Florence Stoker. Schreck portrayed Count Orlok, a character analogous to Count Dracula.

While still in Munich, Schreck appeared in a 16-minute (one-reeler) slapstick, "surreal comedy" written by Bertolt Brecht with cabaret and stage actors Karl Valentin, Liesl Karlstadt, Erwin Faber, and Blandine Ebinger, entitled (''Mysteries of a Barbershop'', 1923), directed by Erich Engel. Schreck appeared as a blind man in the film '' The Street'' (also 1923). Brill, Olaf. 2004

Schreck's second collaboration with ''Nosferatu'' director F. W. Murnau was the comedy ('' The Grand Duke's Finances'', 1924). Even Murnau did not hesitate to declare his contempt for the picture. In 1926, Schreck returned to the Kammerspiele in Munich and continued to act in films, his career surviving the advent of sound until 1936, when he died from heart failure.

Personal life

Schreck was married to actress Fanny Normann, who appeared in a few films, often credited as Fanny Schreck.

One of Schreck's contemporaries recalled that he was a loner with an unusual sense of humour and skill in playing grotesque characters. He also reported that he lived in "a remote and incorporeal world" and that he often spent time walking through forests. Graham 2008br>Page 2
Retrieved 2008-12-26

There were rumours at the time of ''Nosferatu'' and for many years afterwards that Schreck did not actually exist and was a pseudonym for the well-known actor Alfred Abel.

Schreck did not engage in party politics, but starred in the anti-fascist cabaret ''Die Pfeffermühle'' by Erika Mann. It began playing in January 1933 and was shut down by the newly formed Nazi government, two months later.

Death

On 19 February 1936, Schreck had just played The Grand Inquisitor in the play , standing in for Will Dohm. That evening, he felt unwell, and the doctor sent him to the hospital where he died early the next morning of a heart attack. Brill 2004, Peter Trumm: obituary in vol. 89, no. 52, on 21 February 1936. (ie. 08:30 in the morning of February 20, 1936) His obituary especially praised his lead role performance in Molière's play ''The Miser''. He was buried on 14 March 1936 at Wilmersdorfer Waldfriedhof Stahnsdorf in Brandenburg.

Cultural references

The person and performance of Max Schreck in ''Nosferatu'' was fictionalised by actor Willem Dafoe in E. Elias Merhige's ''Shadow of the Vampire''. In a secret history, ''Shadow'' posits that Schreck was a real vampire. Dafoe was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Schreck.

Scriptwriter Daniel Waters created the character Max Shreck (portrayed by Christopher Walken) for the Tim Burton film ''Batman Returns'' and compared him to the character Max Schreck played in ''Nosferatu''. ''Variety'' claimed the name was an in-joke.

Selected filmography

* '' The Mayor of Zalamea'' (1920) as Don Mendo
* ''The Story of Christine von Herre'' (1921) as Peter the domestic
* ''Nosferatu'' (1922) as Count Orlok
* ''Nathan the Wise'' (1922) as the Great Master of the Order of the Temple
* '' The Street'' (1923) as the blind man
* ''The Merchant of Venice'' (1923) as the Doge of Venice
* ''Dudu, a Human Destiny'' (1924)
* '' War in Peace'' (1925) as the apothecary
* ''The Pink Diamond'' (1926) as Watson
* '' Out of the Mist'' (1927)
* ''The Strange Case of Captain Ramper'' (1927)
* '' Doña Juana'' (1927) as Juana's father
* '' At the Edge of the World'' (1927) as Troedler
* '' Luther'' (1928) as Aleander
* ''Scampolo'' (1928) as the waiter
* ''Serenissimus and the Last Virgin'' (1928)
* '' The Republic of Flappers'' (1928)
* '' Volga Volga'' (1928)
* '' Modern Pirates'' (1928)
* '' Fight of the Tertia'' (1929)
* '' Ludwig II, King of Bavaria'' (1929)
* ''Boycott'' (1930)
* ''The Land of Smiles'' (1930)
* '' A Man with Heart'' (1932)
* '' Boo!'' (1932) as Dracula (archive footage from ''Nosferatu'')
* ''The Love Hotel'' (1933)
* '' A Woman Like You'' (1933)
* '' Must We Get Divorced?'' (1933)
* '' The Tunnel'' (1933)
* ''Knockout'' (1935)
* '' Donogoo Tonka'' (1936)
* ''The Last Four on Santa Cruz'' (1936)

See also

* :Nosferatu for images related to the film
* :Images of Max Schreck for articles and Wikipedia-hosted media related to Max Schreck

Notes

References

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Further reading

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* (summary of Eickhoff's biography/tribute of Schreck)

External links

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Max Schreck, 1906
(Pinterest)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schreck, Max
1879 births
1936 deaths
German male film actors
German military personnel of World War I
German male silent film actors
German male stage actors
Male actors from Berlin
Actors from the Province of Brandenburg
20th-century German male actors
People from Tempelhof-Schöneberg
Male actors from Brandenburg