Werner Herzog
German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and opera director (born 1942) · Germany · Directors
Werner Herzog is read about 5,938 times a day, in 68 languages.
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Something wrong?Herzog makes films where people haul steamships over mountains, hypnotizes his entire cast, and drags crews into jungles and onto glaciers because the derangement on camera has to be real. The method isn't metaphor - it's the point.
A life in dates
Hulk Hogan: Real AmericanSeries
Ghost ElephantsFilm, 2026Director, Writer2025Golden LionAward2020
Fireball: Visitors from Darker WorldsFilm, Director, Writer2019European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement AwardAward
The MandalorianSeries, 2019The Client2015
Freaks of NatureFilm, Perfect Being (voice)2014
Late Night with Seth MeyersSeries2013
The UnbelieversFilm2012Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of GermanyAward
Jack ReacherFilm, 2012Zec Chelovek2010
Cave of Forgotten DreamsFilm, Director, Writer2009
Parks and RecreationSeries, Keg Jennings2008
Encounters at the End of the WorldFilm, Director, Writer2006“I believe the common denominator of the Universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility and murder.”In their words"Grizzly Man" (2006)2005Alfred P. Sloan PrizeAward
American Dad!Series, 2005Werner Herzog (voice)
Grizzly ManFilm, 2005Director2000Bayerischer PoetentalerAward1998
What Dreams May ComeFilm, Face1997
StoryvilleSeries1989
The SimpsonsSeries, Walter Hotenhoffer (voice)1987
Cobra VerdeFilm, Director, Writer1982“Of course we are challenging nature itself and it hits back. It just hits back.”In their wordsBurden of Dreams (1982)
Burden of DreamsFilm, 19821980“If you want to do a film, steal a camera, steal raw stock, sneak into a lab and do it!”In their wordsWerner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)“As you see [filmmaking] makes me into a clown. And that happens to everyone - just look at Orson Welles or look at even people like Truffaut. They have become clowns.”In their wordsWerner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980)1979Rauriser LiteraturpreisAward1977“You should look straight at a film; that's the only way to see one. Film is not the art of scholars but of illiterates.”In their words11 September 1977Promoting the English-language release of Heart of Glass in the New York Times, 11 September 1977
StroszekFilm, 1977Director, Writer1975
Midi PremièreSeries1974
The Enigma of Kaspar HauserFilm, Director, Writer1971
Even Dwarfs Started SmallFilm, Director, Writer1968“Well they are very frightening for me because their stupidity is so flat. You look into the eyes of a chicken and you lose yourself in a completely flat, frightening stupidity.”In their wordsAbout chickens, on the Signs of Life (1968) DVD audio commentary (2005).
60 MinutesSeries, 19681951German Film AwardSeries1942Born5 September 1942Also in Deutsch
Photos 6
In their own words 10
, I believe the common denominator of the Universe is not harmony, but chaos, hostility and murder.
Of course we are challenging nature itself and it hits back. It just hits back.
I am so used to plunging into the unknown that any other surroundings and form of existence strike me as exotic and unsuitable for human beings.
Filmography 40
GEGhost Elephants
ODOrion and the Dark
TEThe EndFWFireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
LWLo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
IIInto the Inferno
QDQueen of the DesertFNFreaks of Nature
RARed Army
PMPenguins of Madagascar
TSThe Look of Silence
LILife Itself
AOAtari: Game OverTUThe UnbelieversJRJack Reacher
TKThe Act of Killing
IAInto the AbyssCDCave of Forgotten Dreams
MDMy Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
BOBad Lieutenant: Port of Call New OrleansEWEncounters at the End of the World
MLMister Lonely
RDRescue Dawn
TGThe GrandGMGrizzly Man
MFMy Best Fiend
JBJulien Donkey-BoyWCWhat Dreams May Come
LDLessons of DarknessCVCobra Verde
FIFitzcarraldoBDBurden of Dreams
NVNosferatu the Vampyre
WOWoyzeckSTStroszek
HGHeart of GlassTHThe Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
AGAguirre, the Wrath of God
FMFata MorganaESEven Dwarfs Started Small422 credits on file
Television 24
HAHulk Hogan: Real American
DMDisney Gallery / Star Wars: The MandalorianTMThe Mandalorian
TCThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
CRClose Up with The Hollywood ReporterLMLate Night with Seth Meyers
RMRick and MortyPRParks and Recreation
MEMetalocalypseADAmerican Dad!
TRThe Colbert Report
TBThe Boondocks
KUKulturplatzSTStoryville
DSDie Harald Schmidt ShowTSThe Simpsons
TSThe South Bank Show
CRCiné regardsMPMidi Première
SCSpécial cinémaMI60 MinutesAwards
Family
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Born in Munich in 1942, Herzog started making films at 19 with Herakles in 1961 and became a driving force of New German Cinema. His work pairs ambitious lunatics on-screen with equally unhinged shoots: he directed Klaus Kinski through five volatile features between 1972 and 1987 - Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Woyzeck, Fitzcarraldo, Cobra Verde - then turned their mutual hatred into the documentary My Best Fiend in 1999. Across fiction (The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser, Stroszek, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans) and documentary (Grizzly Man, Encounters at the End of the World, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Into the Abyss), he chases obsessives in conflict with nature and refuses storyboards in favor of improvisation and danger. He's written over a dozen books, directed two dozen operas, and shown up in The Simpsons, Rick and Morty, and The Mandalorian, often playing a version of himself. Truffaut called him the most important director alive; Ebert said even his failures are spectacular.
In common with Werner
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