Reputation of first Dracula star to be resurrected

THE first screen portrayal of Dracula was so eerie, some critics asked whether the actor himself could be a vampire. But since his death, little has been done to resurrect Max Schreck’s reputation — until now.

Schreck is best remembered for playing the cadaverous vampire Count Orlok in FW Murnau’s 1922 silent classic Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror, the first, unauthorised cinematic adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula. But the rest of his career has been largely forgotten — unjustly, in the view of German author Stefan Eickhoff, who has written what he says is Schreck’s first biography.

Nosferatu failed to make its lead a star, but won such cult status some film scholars speculated his name (Schreck means “fear” or “fright” in German) was a pseudonym.

Nosferatu changed the names of Stoker’s characters because the filmmakers failed to get permission to adapt his novel.

After the release, Stoker’s widow sued for breach of copyright, and won a court order to have all prints of the film destroyed. Since it had already been distributed worldwide, this ultimately proved impossible.

Nosferatu became a landmark of early German film and the horror genre — while Schreck’s other work has languished in relative obscurity. He died of heart failure, aged 56, and was buried in an unmarked grave near Berlin.

Max Schreck — Gespenstertheater (Ghost theatre) is due to be published later this year.