PAUL WEGENER

Paul Wegener was a Prussian-born (in what is now Poland) actor from the 1910s to the 1940s. He was born in 1874, and initially studied to be a lawyer, but decided to become an actor. In 1913, he heard about the Jewish legend of a monster created by a rabbi, called "The Golem", and he was fascinated by it, and he wrote a treatment for a movie about it, Der Golem, which was made in 1915, with Wegener in the title role (he was 6' 6", which no doubt helped!), and he also co-directed and wrote the screenplay. It was a major success in Germany and he made two sequels, one in 1917 and the second in 1920, which was kind of a remake of the first movie, and it was released internationally and gave him worldwide fame. Unlike many of his fellow actors and directors, he was favored by the Nazi regime, but he is reported to have detested the Nazis and help resistance groups during the war. After the war, he tried to help actors and directors who had suffered, and he helped rebuild the German cinema. He passed away in 1948 at the age of 73.