Werner Herzog
Known For: Directing
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: September 5, 1942 (83 years old)
Place of Birth: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
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 prose, and directed as many operas. French filmmaker François Truffaut once called Herzog "the most important film director alive." American film critic Roger Ebert said that Herzog "has never created a single film that is compromised, shameful, made for pragmatic reasons, or uninteresting. Even his failures are spectacular." He was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine in 2009. Description above from the Wikipedia article Werner Herzog, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
2025
2024
Actor Narrator (voice)
Orion and the Dark
Actor Narrator (voice)
The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
Actor Self (archival footage)
Celebrating the Rice Media Center
Actor
About a Hero
Actor Self (Archive Footage)
Kinski
Director
The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
Writer
The Fire Within: Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
Executive Producer
The End
2023
2022
Actor Self (archive footage)
Nosferatu: A Film Like a Vampire
Actor Narrator (voice)
Last Exit: Space
Actor Self (Voice)
Tegoyo
Actor Self
Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer
Executive Producer
Last Exit: Space
Director
Theater of Thought
Producer
El Poso
Producer
Flores del precipicio
Executive Producer
Theater of Thought
Screenplay
Theater of Thought
Creative Consultant
Notes from a Dromedary
2021
2020
Actor Self - Narrator (voice)
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
Actor Self
AGFA Mystery Mixtape #2: Later in L.A.
Actor Self
Wim Wenders, Desperado
Actor Narrator (voice)
Dear Werner (Walking on Cinema)
Actor The Painter (Narrator)
The Andinist
Director
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
Writer
Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds
2019
Actor Self
90 Years of the Music Box Theatre
Actor Self
Jihad in Hollywood
Actor Self - Interviewer and Narrator (voice)
Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
Actor Self
Meeting Gorbachev
Actor Self
Tattoo Uprising
Consulting Producer
Love Birds
Executive Producer
The Last Scene
Director
Meeting Gorbachev
Director
Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
Writer
Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin
Writer
Meeting Gorbachev
Director
Family Romance, LLC
Writer
Family Romance, LLC
Director of Photography
Family Romance, LLC
Camera Operator
Family Romance, LLC
2018
Actor Self
The Great Buster: A Celebration
Actor Self
Manaslu: Mountain of Souls
Actor Narrator (voice)
Paradox Bullets
Actor Self
Film Beyond Cinema: The Dumpster Kid Experiment and Other Utopias
Actor Self
I'm a Soldier
Consulting Producer
The whole world is country
Executive Producer
The Golden Gate
Thanks
The Empty Goal
2017
2016
Actor Self
Jihad in Hollywood
Actor Narrator (voice)
Into the Inferno
Actor Man with One Story (uncredited)
Salt and Fire
Actor Self
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
Thanks
The Blimp-Maker
Director
Into the Inferno
Director
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
Producer
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
Writer
Into the Inferno
Director
Salt and Fire
Writer
Salt and Fire
Producer
Salt and Fire
Writer
Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World
2015
2014
Actor Self (archive footage)
Alfonso Sansone: Producer by Chance
Actor Self - Filmmaker
Life Itself
Actor Documentary Filmmaker (voice)
Penguins of Madagascar
Actor Neighborhood Hero
Lemonade War
Actor Self
Werner Herzog: On Death Row and Life as a Director
Actor Self (archival)
Atari: Game Over
Executive Producer
Red Army
2013
Actor Self
The Unbelievers
Actor Self (uncredited)
Mistaken for Strangers
Actor Self
Jack Reacher: When the Man Comes Around
Actor Self
An Appreciation of Les Blank by Werner Herzog
Actor Self
Werner Herzog and Errol Morris on 'The Act of Killing'
Actor Alexander von Humboldt
Home from Home – Chronicle of a Vision
Director
From One Second to the Next
Thanks
The Last Shepherd
2012
2011
Actor Narrator (voice)
Into the Abyss
Actor Self
Dubai Winter Diary VI: Light and Reflections
Actor Self
Champions: A Comic Tale
Actor Self
On Borrowed Time
Actor Self
I, I, I José Lewgoy
Actor Self
Hans Zimmer: The Sound of Hollywood
Director
Into the Abyss
Writer
Into the Abyss
Director
Ode to the Dawn of Man
Cinematography
Ode to the Dawn of Man
Sound
Ode to the Dawn of Man
Producer
Into the Abyss
2010
Actor Narrator (voice)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Actor Narrator (voice)
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Actor Self
Werner Herzog Defends Dade
Actor Self
Behind the Madness: The Making of My Son, My Son
Actor Self
Anyone who dares will take the cold off their horse
Actor Himself
The Making of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Actor Narrator (voice)
When Herzog Rescued Phoenix
Actor Self
I am My Films, Part 2... 30 Years Later
Director
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
Screenplay
My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done
Executive Producer
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Director
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Writer
Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
Director
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Screenplay
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Technical Advisor
A Night Out
Thanks
A Night Out
2009
2008
Actor Self
Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers
Actor Father Umbrillo
Mister Lonely
Actor Self
Bierbichler
Actor Self
40 x 15: The Forty Years of the Directors' Fortnight
Actor Self (archive footage)
Back to Room 666
Actor Self
Capturing Reality
Actor Narrator (voice)
BLAST!
Stage Director
Lohengrin: Bayreuth Festival Opera
2007
Actor The German
The Grand
Actor Self
Making of a True Story: Rescue Dawn
Actor
All In This Tea
Actor Self
Munich (Filmfest) Stories - 25 years of Munich Filmfest
Actor Self
Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema
Actor Narrator (voice)
Encounters at the End of the World
Director
Encounters at the End of the World
Writer
Encounters at the End of the World
Sound
Encounters at the End of the World
Creative Consultant
The Devil's Muse
2006
2005
Actor Self
Dreams and Burdens
Actor Self
Perpetuum Mobile: Voices in the Blue Space
Actor Self
Q & A with Jana Sevcikova and Werner Herzog
Actor Self
In the Edges: The 'Grizzly Man' Session
Actor Self / Narrator (voice)
Grizzly Man
Director
Grizzly Man
Director
The Wild Blue Yonder
Screenplay
The Wild Blue Yonder
Thanks
What Is It?
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1993
1992
1991
Actor Narrator (voice)
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
Actor TV-Regisseur
Scream of Stone
Actor Self
SnowwhiteRosered
Actor Self
Film Hour
Director
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
Producer
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
Screenplay
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theatre of the Maharaja of Udaipur
Director
Scream of Stone
Director
Film Hour
1990
1989
Actor Self
To the End of the World... and Then a Little Bit Further
Actor Businger
Bride of the Orient
Actor Self
The Heart and the Legs
Actor Narrator (voice)
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
Director
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
Director
Giovanna d'Arco
Writer
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
Co-Producer
Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
Actor Self (voice)
Ballad of the Little Soldier
Actor Lawyer (uncredited)
Where the Green Ants Dream
Director
Where the Green Ants Dream
Director
Ballad of the Little Soldier
Writer
Ballad of the Little Soldier
Producer
Ballad of the Little Soldier
Producer
Where the Green Ants Dream
Writer
Where the Green Ants Dream
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979
Actor Hand and Feet in Box with Rats (uncredited)
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Actor Self
The Making of 'Nosferatu'
Actor Self
I Am My Films: A Portrait of Werner Herzog
Actor Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Scénario de 'Sauve qui peut la vie'
Director
Woyzeck
Screenplay
Woyzeck
Director
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Producer
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Writer
Nosferatu the Vampyre
1977
Actor Narrator (voice)
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
Actor Self
Journey Through History
Director
Stroszek
Screenplay
Stroszek
Director
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
Sound Engineer
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
Producer
Stroszek
Producer
La Soufrière: Waiting for an Inevitable Catastrophe
1976
Actor Glass Transporter
Heart of Glass
Actor Self
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
Actor Self
Signs of Vigorous Life: The New German Cinema
Director
Heart of Glass
Writer
Heart of Glass
Director
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
Producer
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
Director
No One Will Play with Me
Producer
Heart of Glass
Sound
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck
Writer
No One Will Play with Me
1975
1974
1972
1971
Actor Hurenmörder
Tales of the Dumpster Kid
Director
Land of Silence and Darkness
Screenplay
Land of Silence and Darkness
Director
Handicapped Future
Director
Fata Morgana
Producer
Handicapped Future
Screenplay
Fata Morgana
Sound Recordist
Handicapped Future
Producer
Land of Silence and Darkness
Sound Recordist
Land of Silence and Darkness
Writer
Handicapped Future
Producer
Fata Morgana
Sound
Fata Morgana
Sound
Handicapped Future
1970
1969
1968
1967
1962
Others
Actor Self
No Mr. Werner Herzog, this isn't your Cinématon
Actor Self
Jösta Hagelbäck & Werner Herzog
Actor Director
Tales from the Opera
Actor Self
Shards of Cinema and Philosophy
Actor
The Valley
Writer
The hunger in the world explained to my son
Director
The Conquest of Mexico
Writer
The Conquest of Mexico
Director
The Twilight World
Novel
The Twilight World
Writer
Bucking Fastard
Director
Bucking Fastard