Werner Herzog

Biography

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 p…

Directed

1. Rescue Dawn (2007) — Director
2. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009) — Director
3. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) — Director
4. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) — Director
5. Grizzly Man (2005) — Director
6. Fitzcarraldo (1982) — Director
7. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) — Director
8. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) — Director
9. Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016) — Director
10. Queen of the Desert (2015) — Director
11. Stroszek (1977) — Director
12. Encounters at the End of the World (2007) — Director
13. Into the Abyss (2011) — Director
14. Into the Inferno (2016) — Director
15. My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010) — Director
16. My Best Fiend (1999) — Director
17. Woyzeck (1979) — Director
18. Cobra Verde (1987) — Director
19. Lessons of Darkness (1992) — Director
20. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010) — Director
21. Heart of Glass (1976) — Director
22. Even Dwarfs Started Small (1971) — Director
23. Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020) — Director
24. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) — Director
25. The Wild Blue Yonder (2005) — Director
26. Fata Morgana (1972) — Director
27. The White Diamond (2004) — Director
28. Salt and Fire (2016) — Director
29. Family Romance, LLC (2019) — Director
30. Land of Silence and Darkness (1971) — Director
31. The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner (1974) — Director
32. Meeting Gorbachev (2019) — Director
33. La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe (1977) — Director
34. Invincible (2001) — Director
35. Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) — Director
36. Ghost Elephants (2026) — Director
37. Signs of Life (1968) — Director
38. Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002) — Director
39. Wheel of Time (2003) — Director
40. Scream of Stone (1991) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Rick and Morty (2013) — Shrimply Pibbles (voice)
2. The Mandalorian (2019) — The Client
3. The Simpsons (1989) — Walter Hotenhoffer (voice)
4. Jack Reacher (2012) — Zec Chelovek
5. Penguins of Madagascar (2014) — Documentary Filmmaker (voice)
6. What Dreams May Come (1998) — Face
7. American Dad! (2005) — Werner Herzog (voice)
8. Parks and Recreation (2009) — Keg Jennings
9. Grizzly Man (2005) — Self / Narrator (voice)
10. Orion and the Dark (2024) — Narrator (voice)
11. Freaks of Nature (2015) — Perfect Being (voice)
12. The Boondocks (2005) — Himself (voice)
13. Life Itself (2014) — Self - Filmmaker
14. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) — Narrator (voice)
15. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015) — Self - Guest
16. Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016) — Self
17. The Colbert Report (2005)
18. Encounters at the End of the World (2007) — Narrator (voice)
19. Into the Abyss (2011) — Narrator (voice)
20. Atari: Game Over (2014) — Self (archival)
21. Into the Inferno (2016) — Self
22. Metalocalypse (2006)
23. My Best Fiend (1999) — Self
24. Lessons of Darkness (1992) — Self - Narrator (voice)
25. Burden of Dreams (1982) — Self - Filmmaker
26. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010) — Narrator (voice)
27. The Unbelievers (2013) — Self
28. Mister Lonely (2008) — Father Umbrillo
29. Heart of Glass (1976) — Glass Transporter
30. Late Night with Seth Meyers (2014) — Self - Guest
31. Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) — Father
32. Tokyo-Ga (1985) — Self
33. The Grand (2007) — The German
34. Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds (2020) — Self - Narrator (voice)
35. Incident at Loch Ness (2004) — Self
36. Little Dieter Needs to Fly (1997) — Narrator (voice)
37. Dangerous Game (1993) — Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
38. 60 Minutes (1968) — Self
39. The White Diamond (2004) — Narrator (voice)
40. Salt and Fire (2016) — Man with One Story (uncredited)