F. W. Murnau

Friedrich Wilhelm F. W. Murnau was a German film director. Murnau was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at the age of 12, and became a friend of director Max Reinhardt. During World War I he served as a company commander at the eastern front and was in the German air force, surviving several crashes without any severe injuries.

Murnau was born in Bielefeld, Province of Westphalia, and grew up in Kassel from the time he was seven. He had two brothers, Bernhard and Robert, and two stepsisters, Ida and Anna. Murnaus mother Otilie Volbracht was the second wife of his father Heinrich Plumpe, the owner of a cloth factory in the northwestern part of Germany. Their villa was often turned into a stage for little plays, directed by Murnau, who already read books of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays at the age of 12. He took the name Murnau from the town of that name, which is near Lake Staffel, south of Munich. The 6160ft 11160in director was said to have an icy, imperious disposition and an obsession with film.

Source: Wikipedia