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Max Schreck (September 6, 1879–February 19,
1936) was a Germany|German actor most often
remembered today for his lead role in Nosferatu.
Along with Béla Lugosi and Christopher Lee,
Schreck is considered among the classic portrayers
of Dracula.

He received his training at the Staatstheater in
Berlin. He made his stage debut in Messeritz 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 (theatre director)|Max
Reinhardt's celebrated company of performers back
in Berlin. Many of Reinhardt's troupe made a huge
contribution to the cinema.

For three years between 1919 and 1922, Schreck
appeared at the Kammerspiele in Munich whilst
working on his first film Der Richter von Zalamea,
adapted from a six act play, for Decla Bioscop. In
1922 he was hired by Prana Film for their first
and only production, Nosferatu. The company
declared themselves bankrupt after the film's
release to avoid paying copyright infringement
costs to an irate Florence Stoker, the widow of
Dracula author Bram Stoker. Schreck's Count Orlok,
with its bald, rat shaped head and long spidery
fingers remains a haunting character.

In 1923, Schreck appeared as a blind man in the
acclaimed film Die Straße. No prints of this film
remain today.

Schreck did appear in a comedy, albeit poorly
made.  Even the director, F.W. Murnau, expressed
his repugnance over Die Finanzen des Grossherzogs
(The Finances of the Grand Duke).


In 1926, Schreck returned to the Kammerspiele in
Munich and continued to act in films right through
the advent of sound until his death. He was
married to actress Fanny Normann, who appeared in
a few films, often credited as Fanny Schreck.

Suggestions that Schreck was really actor Alfred
Abel can be seen to be wrong when the two actors
are seen together. Their physiques do not match at
all. 

Curiously, the word Schreck is also the German
word for fright, or terror.  It comes from the
Middle High German word schrecken; to jump or to
frighten.

Shreck is portrayed by actor Willem Dafoe in E.
Elias Merhige's Shadow of the Vampire, a fictional
film loosely based on the historical facts
surrounding the making of F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu.
The basis of the film is that Shreck gave such a
terrifying performance as Orlok because he
actually was a vampire.

In the 1992 film Batman Returns, the character Max
Shreck was named as an in-joke by director Tim
Burton. The part was played by Christopher Walken.