Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe)

 Born: December 28th, 1888 Bielefeld (Germany) - Died: March 11th, 1931, Santa Barbara, CA (USA) 

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau was born Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe on December 28th, 1888 into a successful middle-class family. His father, Heinrich Plumpe, was a textile manufacturer and his mother, Ottilie, was a schoolteacher.

Murnau studied philology and art history at the University of Heidelberg. He developed a close relationship with Hans Ehrenbaum-Degele, the son of a wealthy Berlin banker, who introduced Murnau to Berlin's bohemian community. Murnau had a passion for the theatre, and was eventually invited by Max Reinhardt, a pioneer of Expressionist theatre, to join the Reinhardt ensemble at the Deutsches Theatre in Berlin. It was at this time that he assumed the stage name of Murnau as an homage to the Upper Bavarian artists' colony in which he was also involved.

In 1914, during World War I, Murnau joined the army. After being dispatched to Potsdam, he became a company commander in 1915. Murnau's friend Hans Ehrenbaum-Degele was killed in action that year on the Russian front, where Murnau was also serving. Murnau returned to the western front as a radio operator and observer for the air corps in 1917. While interned in Switzerland in 1918, he wrote his first film script. In early 1919, Murnau arrived back in Berlin, where he eventually started working as a film director. He was taken in by Mary Ehrenbaum, the mother of his deceased friend, to live in her villa in Berlin-Grunewald, a permanent residence that he would maintain for many years.

Murnau's first feature film, DER KNABE IN BLAU (THE BOY IN BLUE - 1919), was a collaboration with Ernst Hofmann, a former colleague from the Deutsches Theatre, while his second film, SATANAS (1919), was a collaboration with Robert Wiene. Murnau directed six movies the following year: SEHNSUCHT (LONGING), DER BUCKLIGE UND DIE TÄNZERIN (THE HUNCHBACK AND THE DANCER), DER JANUSKOPF (THE JANUS HEAD), ABEND-NACHT-MORGEN (EVENING-NIGHT-MORNING), DER GANG IN DIE NACHT (JOURNEY INTO THE NIGHT), and MARIZZA, GENANNT DIE SCHMUGGLERMADONNA (Marizza, Called the Smugglers' Madonna). Only three out of seven films Murnau directed from 1919 to 1921 still exist. In 1921, Murnau completed SCHLOSS VOGELOD (THE HAUNTED CASTLE), one of five films produced with Conrad Veidt, a friend since their days in the Max Reinhardt theatres.

After several collaborations with scriptwriter Carl Meyer, in 1922, Murnau collaborated with writer Thea von Harbou on DER BRENNENDE ACKER (THE BURNING EARTH - 1922), followed later that year on PHANTOM. Also in 1922, Murnau collaborated with scriptwriter Henrik Galeen and art director Albin Grau on NOSFERATU - EINE SYMPHONIE DES GRAUENS (NOSFERATU - A Symphony of Horror), a screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. After the peasant drama DIE AUSTREIBUNG (THE EXPULSION - 1923) and the comedy DIE FINANZEN DES GROSSHERZOGS (THE GRAND DUKE'S FINANCES - 1923), Murnau filmed DER LETZTE MANN (THE LAST LAUGH) in May 1924 at the Ufa studios in Babelsberg, then headed by Erich Pommer. The production, which soon brought Murnau international recognition, included cinematographer Karl Freund and production designers Robert Herlth and Walter Röhrig. Pommer and Murnau collaborated again on TARTUFFE (1925). Murnau's last film for Ufa, FAUST (1926), was planned by Ufa as a prestigious production for the international film market.

In June of 1926 (after signing with producer William Fox), Murnau travelled to the United States to begin work on SUNRISE - A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (1927). After the shooting was completed, Murnau spent the summer of 1927 in Berlin. SUNRISE was critically acclaimed upon its release in September,1927, and went on to win three Academy Awards for Unique and Artistic Production, Actress (Janet Gaynor), and Cinematography (Charles Rosher and Karl Struss). When the film failed to be a box office success, however, Murnau was forced to make compromises his next project for Fox, 4 DEVILS (1928). The ending of 4 DEVILS was changed based on audience surveys carried out by Fox Studios. The film is presently considered lost. The ultimate break between Murnau and Fox Studios came during production of CITY GIRL (1930). Similar to 4 DEVILS, parts of CITY GIRL were later re-filmed as a talking motion picture.

While filming CITY GIRL, Murnau befriended documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty. After forming a business partnership together, they travelled to the South Pacific in the Spring of 1929 to embark on the film TABU (released 1931). After the financial backer of the project, the Colorart Company, declared bankruptcy, Murnau ended up buying out Flaherty's interest in the film and completing it himself. The filming of TABU had exhausted Murnau's financial resources. However, Paramount Pictures Corporation bought the film and offered Murnau a ten-year contract.

Murnau finished editing TABU in Los Angeles and had plans to return to Tahiti to complete further movie projects and well as travel to Europe to study the development of German talking motion pictures. with plans to attend the premiere of TABU Unfortunately, on March 11th, 1931, one week before the premiere of TABU in New York, Murnau died in a Santa Barbara, CA hospital from injuries sustained in an automobile accident along the Pacific Coast Highway near Rincon, CA. After a funeral service in Los Angeles, Murnau's body is transported to Germany and laid to rest on April 13th, 1931, at the Waldfriedhof Stahnsdorf cemetery near Berlin.