Werner Herzog (born
Werner H. Stipetić;
[Werner Herzog Biography (1942-)] September 5, 1942) is a German
film director,
screenwriter, actor, and
opera director.
He is often associated with the
German New Wave movement (also called
New German Cinema), along with
Rainer Werner Fassbinder,
Margarethe von Trotta,
Volker Schlöndorff,
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg,
Wim Wenders and others. His films often feature heroes with impossible dreams or people with unique talents in obscure fields.
Early life and family
Herzog was born
Werner Stipetić () in
Munich. He adopted his father's name
Herzog, which means "duke" in German, when his father returned from a
prisoner of war camp after
World War II.
[Bissell, Tom. "The Secret Mainstream: Contemplating the mirages of Werner Herzog". Harper's. December 2006.] His family moved to the remote Bavarian village of Sachrang (nested in the
Chiemgau Alps), after the house next to theirs was destroyed during the bombing at the close of
World War II.
[ When he was 12, he and his family moved back to Munich and shared an apartment with Klaus Kinski in Elisabethstraße in Munich-Schwabing. About this, Herzog recalled, "I knew at that moment that I would be a film director and that I would direct Kinski".]
