Henrik Galeen (7 January 1881 – 30 July 1949) was an Austrian-born

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

considered an influential figure in the development of

German Expressionist German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

cinema during the

silent era A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, wh ...

Early years

Considerable mystery exists about Galeen's early life, and for many years it was uncertain where exactly he was born. Galeen came from a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in

Lemberg Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

, Galicia, which was then part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

. He moved from Austria to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and became assistant to the leading theatre figure

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

. Galeen subsequently became an actor in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and touring other German-speaking cities.

German silent films

Galeen first became involved in film in 1913 when he worked on the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

s for several uncredited films. In 1914 he wrote, directed and acted in '' The Golem'' the first of several depictions of the mythical figure The Golem. Following the First World War, he went to work for a branch of the

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

German studio

UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the ...

. He worked as a screenwriter on films such as ''

Ruth's Two Husbands ''Ruth's Two Husbands'' (German: ''Die beiden Gatten der Frau Ruth'') is a 1919 German silent film directed by Rudolf Biebrach and starring Henny Porten, Curt Goetz and Meinhart Maur.Krautz p.105 The film's sets were designed by Kurt Dürnhöfe ...

'' (1919) and '' Waxworks'' (1924). In 1922 he was engaged to write a version of

Dracula ''Dracula'' is a novel by Bram Stoker, published in 1897. As an epistolary novel, the narrative is related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist, but opens with solicitor Jonathan Harker taking ...

, but wrongly believing it to be in

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

, he changed the name to ''

Nosferatu ''Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror'' (German: ''Nosferatu – Eine Symphonie des Grauens'') is a 1922 silent German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok, a vampire who preys on the wife ...

'' (1922). The film has come to be regarded as a classic of German expressionist cinema and along with two of his later films, '' The Student of Prague'' (1926) and ''

Alraune ''Alraune'' (German for ) is a novel by German novelist Hanns Heinz Ewers published in 1911. It is also the name of the female lead character. The book originally featured illustrations by Ilna Ewers-Wunderwald. Legend The basis of the story o ...

'' (1928), serves as the basis for Galeen's high reputation. He also worked on a number of less-remembered films including a series of thrillers starring

Harry Piel Heinrich Piel (12 July 1892 – 27 March 1963), known professionally as Harry Piel, was a prolific German actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer who was involved in over 150 films. Piel became a director in 1912, turning out such ...

Later career

From 1928 to 1931 he lived in Britain, where he directed a feature film '' After the Verdict'' (1928) which was the first film to be shot at Wimbledon. He also worked on a number of

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s.Bock & Bergfelder p.145-146 He returned to Germany in 1931 and directed a final film there ''

The House of Dora Green ''The House of Dora Green'' (german: Salon Dora Green) is a 1933 German thriller film directed by Henrik Galeen and starring Mady Christians, Paul Hartmann, and Leonard Steckel. It was based on the novel ''Diplomatische Unterwelt'' by Hans Rudo ...

'' (1933). Following the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

's rise to power in 1933, Galeen went into exile in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

before moving on to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and eventually to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He died in Vermont in 1949, at age 68.

Selected filmography

References

Sources

* Isenberg, Noah William. ''Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era''. Columbia University Press, 2009. * Bock, Hans-Michael & Bergfelder, Tim. ''The Concise CineGraph. Encyclopedia of German Cinema''. Berghahn Books, 2009.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galeen, Henrik 1881 births 1949 deaths Austrian male screenwriters Austrian film directors Austrian male stage actors Austrian male silent film actors Austrian Jews Film people from Lviv Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States 20th-century Austrian male actors 20th-century Austrian screenwriters 20th-century Austrian male writers Austro-Hungarian emigrants to Germany