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Happy Birthday, Max Schreck - 2013

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Oh my GOD, this was never submitted; I am a horrible person.

I drew this for Max's birthday. It was modeled after this photo of him: 31.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6i…, which I've always loved ever since I first saw it. It felt like he was looking directly at me and I got the shivers.

My idea about submitting this was to include some information about him since I feel like I haven't helped illuminate his life at all here at DA, only at tumblr. So here are A Few Things You Probably Didn't Know About Max Schreck.


1. In his early 20’s he did some children’s plays. At some point in his career, he would play an evil “moon man” in a production called “Little Peter’s Trip to the Moon”, but his colleague Fritz Reiff would say the kids quite liked him! (Gespenstertheater, pg. 12)

2. He would learn roles he only planned to play once, even if they had a lot of dialogue, if it meant enough to him. In 1909, Max and his wife Fanny had theatre engagements in different cities, but he came to play in a production of “The Red Robe”, in which Fanny had gotten the much desired part of Zanetta Etschepare. He supported her during this time not only by helping her prepare for the role, but by taking the role of the villainous judge Mouzon, for just one night, enough to up the ticket sales. The play would end with an intense scene between them, and then her character stabbed his to death before the curtain fell! (Gespenstertheater, pg. 79)

3. Fanny Schreck’s great niece said in the 20’s the Schrecks had enough money to spend on a certain luxury: taxis. Max apparently did not like to be out in the city for any amount of time longer than he was required, and he preferred to be at home when he was anxious about his performances, so calling a taxi allowed him to leave last minute for his engagements. (Gespenstertheater, pg. 156)

4. In 1925, Max Schreck’s salary was 9,000 deutschmarks. To put this into comparison, Alexander Granach, who played Knock in Nosferatu, was making 30,000 deutschmarks at the time, and famous Expressionist actor Fritz Kortner was making 45,000. However, we can deduce from his taxi splurge that, although he wasn’t a star, he was making more than just end’s meet for a while, which was VERY fortunate given his profession and the state of the German economy. (Gespenstertheater, pg. 231)

5. Max wrote very charming messages to theatre directors if he didn’t feel like they were offering him roles that would benefit his career.
The signature he left in a note, which turned down a role and then asked for vacation time, is the fancy one I put into this drawing. (Gespenstertheater, pg. 152)
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© 2013 - 2024 Mrs-Crocker
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JJWS92's avatar
Have you ever seen the movie, "Shadow of the Vampire"? It's a fictionalised account on the making of "Nosferatu", in which F. W. Murnau wants his vampire picture to be as realistic as possible, so he hires a Real Vampire, to play the actor Max Schreck, playing Count Orlok. Willem Dafoe plays Max Schreck and John Malkovich plays F. W. Murnau.