Werner Herzog
Born
September 5, 1942 (82 years old)
Known For
Directing
Place of Birth
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Werner Herzog (German: [ˈvɛɐ̯nɐ ˈhɛɐ̯tsoːk]; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. He is known for his unique filmmaking process, such as disregarding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing the cast and crew into similar situations as characters in his films.
Herzog started work on his first film Herakles in 1961, when he was nineteen. Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than sixty feature films and documentaries, such as Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974), Heart of Glass (1976), Stroszek (1977), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Cobra Verde (1987), Lessons of Darkness (1992), Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997), My Best Fiend (1999), Invincible (2000), Grizzly Man (2005), Encounters at the End of the World (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010). He has published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas.
French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive." American film critic Roger Ebert said that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular." He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2009.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Werner Herzog, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
Narrator (voice)
2024

Orion and the Dark
Narrator (voice)
2024

The Arc of Oblivion
Narrator (voice)
2023

Werner Herzog - Radikaler Träumer
Self
2022

Tegoyo
Self (Voice)
2022

Last Exit: Space
Narrator (voice)
2022

Nosferatu: A Film Like a Vampire
Self (archive footage)
2022

The Extravagant Little Life of Jean-Claude D. Dreyfus
Self (archive footage)
2021

Hannelore Elsner: More Than One Life
Self (archive footage)
2021

90 Years of the Music Box Theatre
Self
2019

Jihad in Hollywood
Self
2019

Jihad in Hollywood
Self
2016

Penguins of Madagascar
Documentary Filmmaker (voice)
2014
Lemonade War
Neighborhood Hero
2014

Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
Self (archive footage)
2014
Werner Herzog: On Death Row and Life as a Director
Self
2014

Life Itself
Self - Filmmaker
2014

The Unbelievers
Self
2013

Werner Herzog and Errol Morris on 'The Act of Killing'
Self
2013

An Appreciation of Les Blank by Werner Herzog
Self
2013

Mistaken for Strangers
Self (uncredited)
2013

Jack Reacher: When the Man Comes Around
Self
2013

Jack Reacher
Zec Chelovek
2012

Strawberryland
Turnlehrer
2012

Close Up
Self (archive footage)
2012

Dubai Winter Diary VI: Light and Reflections
Self
2012

Dinotasia
Narrator (voice)
2012

No Mr. Werner Herzog, this isn't your Cinématon
Self
2012

I, I, I José Lewgoy
Self
2011

Into the Abyss
Narrator (voice)
2011

On Borrowed Time
Self
2011

Champions: A Comic Tale
Self
2011
Werner Herzog Defends Dade
Self
2010

Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Narrator (voice)
2010

Anyone who dares will take the cold off their horse
Self
2010

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Narrator (voice)
2010
Behind the Madness: The Making of My Son, My Son
Self
2010

Plastic Bag
Plastic Bag (voice)
2009
The Lonely
2009

40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
Self
2008

Bierbichler
Self
2008

Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers
Self
2008

Mister Lonely
Father Umbrillo
2008

Making of a True Story: Rescue Dawn
Self
2007

Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema
Self
2007
Munich (Filmfest) Stories - 25 years of Munich Filmfest
Self
2007

The Grand
The German
2007

All In This Tea
2007

50 Films to See Before You Die
Self
2006
Walking to Werner
Self (voice)
2006

In the Edges: The 'Grizzly Man' Session
Self
2005
Q & A with Jana Sevcikova and Werner Herzog
Self
2005
Perpetuum Mobile: Voices in the Blue Space
Self
2005
Dreams and Burdens
Self
2005

Incident at Loch Ness
Self
2004

The White Diamond
Narrator (voice)
2004
Dribble
Self (voice)
2004

The Boxing Prince
Self
2002

The 100 Greatest Films
Self
2001
The Last Documentary
Self
2000
Klaus Kinski: I'm not an actor
Self
2000
A Brief History of Errol Morris
Self
1999

My Best Fiend
Self
1999
In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
Self
1999

Stardust Stricken: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, A Portrait
Self
1996

The Transformation of the World Into Music
Self
1996

Dangerous Game
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1993

Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
Narrator (voice)
1991
SnowwhiteRosered
Self
1991

Scream of Stone
TV-Regisseur
1991

Hard to Be a God
Mita / Richard
1990
Russian Adventure. Peter Fleischmann is Filming "Hard to Be a God"
Self
1990

Bride of the Orient
Businger
1989
The Heart and the Legs
Self
1989

To the End of the World... and Then a Little Bit Further
Self
1989

Location Africa
Self
1987

Portrait: Werner Herzog
Self
1986

Tokyo-Ga
Self
1985

The Dark Glow of the Mountain
Self (voice)
1985

Ballad of the Little Soldier
Self (voice)
1984

Man of Flowers
The Father
1983

Burden of Dreams
Self - Filmmaker
1982

The South Bank Show: Werner Herzog
Self
1982

Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe
Self
1980

La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
Narrator (voice)
1977

Heart of Glass
Glass Transporter
1976

How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
Self
1976

The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner
Self
1974
Jösta Hagelbäck & Werner Herzog
Self

Journey Through History
Self
1977
Tales from the Opera
Director
Shards of Cinema and Philosophy
Self

Celebrating the Rice Media Center
Self (archival footage)
2024

Meteor: Sohrab Shahid Saless
Self
2021

Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
Self - Narrator (voice)
2020

Tattoo Uprising
Self
2019

Meeting Gorbachev
Self
2019

Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
Self - Interviewer and Narrator (voice)
2019

Manaslu: Mountain of Souls
Self
2018

Paradox Bullets
Narrator (voice)
2018

The Great Buster: A Celebration
Self
2018

Ballad of a Righteous Merchant
Self
2017

The Man Who Killed John Wayne
Self (archive footage)
2017

Salt and Fire
Man with One Story (uncredited)
2016

Into the Inferno
Self
2016

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
Self
2016

Freaks of Nature
Perfect Being (voice)
2015

Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision
Alexander von Humboldt
2013

10 Questions for Werner Herzog
Self
2012

Hans Zimmer: The Sound of Hollywood
Self
2011
When Herzog Rescued Phoenix
Narrator (voice)
2010

The Making of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Himself
2010

Capturing Reality
Self
2008

BLAST!
Narrator (voice)
2008
Back to Room 666
Self (archive footage)
2008

Encounters at the End of the World
Narrator (voice)
2007

Grizzly Man
Self / Narrator (voice)
2005

The Best of Tromadance Film Festival: Volume 3
Self (voice) ("Dribble" short)
2004

The Ball Is a Scumbag
Self
2000

Wings of Hope
Self
1999

Julien Donkey-Boy
Father
1999

What Dreams May Come
Face
1998

Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Narrator (voice)
1997

Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices
Narrator (voice)
1995

Burning Heart
1995

Bells from the Deep
Narrator (voice)
1993

Lessons of Darkness
Self - Narrator (voice)
1992

Film Hour
Self
1991

Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
Narrator (voice)
1989

Where the Green Ants Dream
Lawyer (uncredited)
1984

Room 666
Self
1982

Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
Self - Film Director: Nosferatu
1980

The Making of 'Nosferatu'
Self
1979

I Am My Films: A Portrait of Werner Herzog
Self
1979

Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema
Self
1976

Signs of Life
Soldier (uncredited)
1968

The Valley

The AGFA Mystery Mixtape Vault
Self
2025

About a Hero
2024

Kinski
Self (Archive Footage)
2024

The U.S. and the Holocaust
Hermann Göring · (3 episodes)
2022

A Life for Movies: Lotte Eisner
Self
2021
Wim Wenders - Von Filmen und Träumen
Self · (4 episodes)
2020

The Andinist
The Painter (Narrator)
2020

Dear Werner (Walking on Cinema)
Narrator (voice)
2020

Wim Wenders, Desperado
Self
2020

Disney Gallery / Star Wars: The Mandalorian
Self - The Client · (2 episodes)
2020

AGFA Mystery Mixtape #2: Later in L.A.
Self
2020

The Mandalorian
The Client · (3 episodes)
2019

I'm a Soldier
Self
2018

Film Beyond Cinema: The Dumpster Kid Experiment and Other Utopias
Self
2018

One Hundred Years with Juan Rulfo
Self
2017

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self · (1 episode)
2015

Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Self · (1 episode)
2015

Atari: Game Over
Self (archival)
2014

Late Night with Seth Meyers
Self · (2 episodes)
2014

Rick and Morty
Shrimply Pibbles (voice) · (1 episode)
2013

The Killers: Unstaged
Self
2012

On Death Row
Werner Herzog · (8 episodes)
2012

I am My Films, Part 2... 30 Years Later
Self
2010
Future States
Plastic Bag (voice) · (1 episode)
2010

Parks and Recreation
Keg Jennings · (1 episode)
2009

Metalocalypse
(2 episodes)
2006

The Henry Rollins Show
(1 episode)
2006

The Colbert Report
(1 episode)
2005

American Dad!
Werner Herzog (voice) · (1 episode)
2005

Kulturplatz
Self · (1 episode)
2004

Wheel of Time
Narrator (voice)
2003

Die Harald Schmidt Show
Self · (1 episode)
1995

Echoes from a Sombre Empire
Self
1990

The Simpsons
Walter Hotenhoffer (voice) · (2 episodes)
1989

The Simpsons
Werner Herzog (voice) · (1 episode)
1989

The Simpsons
Dr. Lund (voice) · (1 episode)
1989
Sonntagsgespräch
Self · (1 episode)
1985

God's Angry Man
Narrator (voice)
1981
Bayerischer Filmpreis
Self · (2 episodes)
1979
Okay
Self · (1 episode)
1979

Scénario de 'Sauve qui peut la vie'
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1979

Lost in the Garden of the World
Self
1975

Midi Première
Self · (1 episode)
1975

Spécial cinéma
Self · (2 episodes)
1974

Tales of the Dumpster Kid
Hurenmörder
1971

Die Erben von Papas Kino
1968

Neuer Deutscher Film Report
1967
Grimme Awards Ceremony
Self · (2 episodes)
1964
Deutscher Filmpreis
Self · (1 episode)
1951