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.
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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