Max Schrek
| Max Schreck | |
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Schreck in 1916.
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| Born |
Friedrich Gustav Maximilian Schreck 6 September 1879 Berlin, German Empire |
| Died | 20 February 1936 (aged 56) Munich, Nazi Germany |
| Years active | 1920-1936 |
| Spouse(s) | Fanny Normann (m. 1910–36) |
Friedrich Gustav Maximilian "Max" Schreck (6 September 1879 – 20 February 1936) was a German actor, best known for his lead role as the vampire Count Orlok in the film Nosferatu (1922).
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.
His father did not approve of Schreck's ever-growing enthusiasm for theater. Schreck's 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 Theater. Greater engagements followed, especially in Frankfurt am Main. From there he went to Berlin for Max Reinhardt and the Munich Chamber Games for Otto Falckenberg. From then on he began to work in films.
Schreck received his training at the Berliner Staatstheater (the State Theatre of Berlin) which he completed 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. Many of Reinhardt's troupe made a significant contribution to cinema.
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