Silent Directors (international)

1. Sergei Eisenstein

The son of an affluent architect, Eisenstein attended the Institute of Civil Engineering in Petrograd as a young man. With the fall of the tsar in 1917, he worked as an engineer for the Red Army. In the following years, Eisenstein joined up with the Moscow Proletkult Theater as a set designer and ...

2. Georg Wilhelm Pabst

Director | Komödianten

Georg Wilhelm Pabst is considered by many to be the greatest director of German cinema, in his era. He was especially appreciated by actors and actresses for the humane way in which he treated them. This was in contrast to some of his contemporaries, such as Arnold Fanck, who have been ...

3. Carl Theodor Dreyer

Writer | Gertrud

The illegitimate son of a Danish farmer and his Swedish housekeeper, Carl Theodor Dreyer was born in Copenhagen on the 3th of February, 1889. He spent his early years in various foster homes before being adopted by the Dreyers at the age of two. Contrary to popular belief (perhaps nourished by the ...

4. Abel Gance

Writer | La roue

Born an illegitimate son of a wealthy physician, Abel Flamant, and a working class mother, Francoise Perethon. He was raised by his mother and her boyfriend, who later became her husband, Adolphe Gance. Pressured by his parents, he began his working career as a lawyer's clerk in hopes of achieving ...

5. Jacques Feyder

Director | La kermesse héroïque

Jacques Feyder was born on July 21, 1885 in Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium. He was a director and writer, known for Carnival in Flanders (1935), Le grand jeu (1934) and Fahrendes Volk (1938). He was married to Françoise Rosay. He died on May 24, 1948 in Rive-de-Prangins, Switzerland.

6. Fritz Lang

Actor | Le mépris

Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...

7. Louis Feuillade

Director | Les vampires

A prolific director--over 700 films, most of them short- or medium-length--Louis Feuillade began his career with Gaumont where, as well as directing his own features, he was appointed artistic director in charge of production in 1907. His work was largely comprised of film series; his first series,...

8. Kenji Mizoguchi

Director | Ugetsu monogatari

Coming from a lower class family Mizoguchi entered the production company Nikkatsu as an actor specialized in female roles. Later he became an assistant director and made his first film in 1922. Although he filmed almost 90 movies in the silent era, only his last 12 productions are really known ...

9. Yasujirô Ozu

Writer | Tôkyô monogatari

Tokyo-born Yasujiro Ozu was a movie buff from childhood, often playing hooky from school in order to see Hollywood movies in his local theatre. In 1923 he landed a job as a camera assistant at Shochiku Studios in Tokyo. Three years later, he was made an assistant director and directed his first ...

10. Jean Renoir

Writer | La règle du jeu

Son of the famous Impressionist painter Pierre Auguste, he had a happy childhood. Pierre Renoir was his brother, and Claude Renoir was his nephew. After the end of World War I, where he won the Croix de Guerre, he moved from scriptwriting to filmmaking. He married Catherine Hessling, for whom he ...

11. René Clair

Writer | Le silence est d'or

René Clair was born on November 11, 1898 in Paris, France. He was a writer and director, known for Man About Town (1947), Beauties of the Night (1952) and The Grand Maneuver (1955). He was married to Bronia Clair. He died on March 15, 1981 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

12. Grigore Brezeanu

Director | Amor fatal

Grigore Brezeanu was born in 1892. He was a director and writer, known for Amor fatal (1911), Însir'te margarite (1911) and Calimanesti (1913). He died in 1919 in Cluj, Romania.

13. Georges Méliès

Director | À la conquête du pôle

Georges Méliès was a French illusionist and film director famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema.

Méliès was an especially prolific innovator in the use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, ...

14. Alfred Hitchcock

Director | Psycho

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. He was the son of Emma Jane (Whelan; 1863 - 1942) and East End greengrocer William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914). His parents were both of half English and half Irish ancestry. He had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and ...

15. Cecil M. Hepworth

Producer | Alice in Wonderland

Born in London, England, in 1874, Cecil Hepworth was one of the founders of the British film industry, directing and producing many films from 1898 into the late 1920s. Developing an early interest in films from following his father on lecture tours about the magic-lantern, he patented several ...

16. Maurice Elvey

Director | The Glad Eye

Maurice Elvey was born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England, the oldest son of William Clarence Folkard, an inspecting engineer, and Sarah Anna Seward Folkard (formerly Pearce). He never had a formal education, and was working on the streets of London by the age of nine after having run away...

17. Luis Buñuel

Writer | Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie

The father of cinematic Surrealism and one of the most original directors in the history of the film medium, Luis Buñuel was given a strict Jesuit education (which sowed the seeds of his obsession with both religion and subversive behavior), and subsequently moved to Madrid to study at the ...

18. Aleksandr Dovzhenko

Writer | Zemlya

Aleksandr Dovzhenko was born on September 10, 1894 in Vyunishche, Sosnitsa Ueyzd, Chernigov Governorate, Russian Empire [now Sosnitsa, Sosnitsa Raion, Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a writer and director, known for Earth (1930), Shors (1939) and Life in Bloom (1949). He was married to Yuliya ...

19. Yakov Protazanov

Director | L'angoissante aventure

Yakov Protazanov was born on February 4, 1881 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was a director and writer, known for A Narrow Escape (1920), Without Dowry (1937) and Kak khoroshi, kak svezhi byli rozy (1913). He died on August 9, 1945 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia].

20. Vsevolod Pudovkin

Director | Admiral Nakhimov

Vsevolod Pudovkin was born on February 28, 1893 in Penza, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was a director and actor, known for Admiral Nakhimov (1947), Zhukovsky (1950) and Minin i Pozharskiy (1939). He was married to Anna Zemtsova. He died on June 30, 1953 in Jurmala, Latvian SSR, USSR [now Latvia].

21. Ferdinand Zecca

Director | La lutte pour la vie

Was a cafe concert entertainer before Charles Pathe noticed him during the Universal Exhibition, where Zecca had been assigned to Pathe's stand. After a few daysPathe asked Zecca if he would like to work in cinematography. Zecca immediately accepted the offer and rapidly became Pathe's right hand ...

22. Émile Cohl

Director | L'agent de poche

Pioneering animator Emile Cohl was born Emile Eugène Jean Louis Courtet in Paris, France, in 1857. He began his career as a caricaturist, cartoonist and writer in his 20s, and in 1908 he was hired by the Gaumont film company as a writer. He soon also became a director, turning out comedies and ...

23. Enrico Guazzoni

Director | Miryam

Enrico Guazzoni was born on September 18, 1876 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Miryam (1929), Il lettino vuoto (1913) and For Napoleon and France (1914). He died on September 24, 1949 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

24. Emilio Ghione

Actor | Il castello di bronzo

Emilio Ghione was born on July 30, 1879 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was an actor and director, known for Il castello di bronzo (1920), I topi grigi (1918) and Za-la-Mort (1915). He died on January 7, 1930 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

25. Giovanni Pastrone

Director | Cabiria

Giovanni Pastrone was born on September 13, 1883 in Montechiaro d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Cabiria (1914), Julius Caesar (1909) and Il fuoco (la favilla - la vampa - la cenere) (1916). He died on June 27, 1959 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy.

26. André Calmettes

Director | La dame aux camélias

André Calmettes was born on August 18, 1861 in Paris, France. He was a director and actor, known for La dame aux camélias (1912), Tosca (1908) and La Tosca (1909). He died on March 14, 1942 in Paris, France.

27. Segundo de Chomón

Director | Un portero modelo

Segundo de Chomón became involved in film through his wife, who was an actress in Pathé films. In 1902 he became a concessionary for Pathé in Barcelona, distributing its product in Spanish-speaking countries and managing a factory for the coloring of Pathé films. He began shooting footage of ...

28. Paul Czinner

Director | Escape Me Never

Paul Czinner was born on May 30, 1890 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a director and writer, known for Escape Me Never (1935), Husbands or Lovers (1924) and The Bolshoi Ballet (1957). He was married to Elisabeth Bergner. He died on June 22, 1972 in London, England, UK.

29. Louis Delluc

Director | Fumée noire

Louis Delluc was born on October 14, 1890 in Le Buisson-de-Cadouin, Dordogne, France. He was a director and writer, known for Fumée noire (1920), The Woman from Nowhere (1922) and L'inondation (1924). He was married to Ève Francis. He died on March 22, 1924 in Paris, France.

30. Richard Oswald

Director | Die Reise um die Erde in 80 Tagen

Director and producer of many German as well as a few American, British and French films, Richard Oswald started making films in 1914 and shortly formed his own production company. After making many successful films and discovering several important performers, he fled his homeland after the Nazi ...

31. Ewald André Dupont

Writer | Varieté

German film director E.A. Dupont was an influential critic and newspaper columnist before breaking into the film industry. He wrote several screenplays and worked as a story editor for Richard Oswald before turning to directing in 1917. Over the next eight years Dupont became a respected exponent ...

Die Geierwally , Das alte Gesetz , Variety , Piccadilly...

32. Arnold Fanck

Director | Die weiße Hölle vom Piz Palü

Arnold Fanck was born March 6, 1889, in Frankenthal, Germany. A trained geologist, he began making documentary and action films after the end of World War I, and his love of geology inspired him to shoot his films in remote mountain locations. These pictures became immensely popular with the German...

33. Friedrich Feher

Actor | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari

Friedrich Feher was born on March 16, 1889 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a director and actor, known for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Robber Symphony (1936) and William Tell (1913). He was married to Magda Sonja. He died on September 30, 1950 in Stuttgart, ...

34. José A. Ferreyra

Director | Calles de Buenos Aires

José A. Ferreyra was born on August 28, 1889 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a director and writer, known for Calles de Buenos Aires (1934), La gaucha (1921) and Mientras Buenos Aires duerme (1924). He died on January 29, 1943 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

35. Adelqui Migliar

Director | Ambición

Adelqui Migliar was born on August 5, 1891 in Concepción City, Concepción, Biobío, Chile. He was an actor and director, known for Ambición (1939), The Inseparables (1929) and The Apache (1925). He died on August 6, 1956 in Santiago, Chile.

36. Carmine Gallone

Director | Giuseppe Verdi

Carmine Gallone was born on September 10, 1885 in Taggia, Liguria, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Life of Giuseppe Verdi (1938), Odessa in fiamme (1942) and Scipione l'africano (1937). He was married to Soava Gallone. He died on March 12, 1973 in Frascati, Lazio, Italy.

Gli ultimi giorni di Pompeii Malombra

37. Karl Grune

Director | Schlagende Wetter

Karl Grune (22 January 1890 - 2 October 1962) was an Austrian film director and writer who made many silent films in the 1920s.

Grune was born in Vienna, where he later attended drama school. He volunteered in the First World War, where an injury temporarily deprived him of the ability to speak in ...

38. Georg Jacoby

Director | Maske in Blau

Georg Jacoby was an actor, film and theatre director. He started to play on stage in 1915 and in cinema in WWI propaganda films. After 1919, he was only a film director. In 1922, he made So sind die Männer (1923) ("The Little Napoleon"), in which Marlene Dietrich had a bit part. His first wife...

39. Alexander Korda

Director | The Private Life of Don Juan

One of a large group of Hungarian refugees who found refuge in England in the 1930s, Sir Alexander Korda was the first British film producer to receive a knighthood. He was a major, if controversial, figure and acted as a guiding force behind the British film industry of the 1930s and continued to ...

40. Dimitri Kirsanoff

Director | Quartier sans soleil

In France from 1923. Kirsanoff was at the forefront of Parisian avant-garde filmmaking thanks to works such as Ménilmontant (1926), which combined soviet style montage with hand-held camerawork and lyrically composed static shots. Kirsanoff's early silent films, many starring his first wife Nadia ...

41. Viktor Tourjansky

Director | I cosacchi

Viktor Tourjansky was a Russian film director who emigrated after the communist revolution of 1917, and worked in France, Germany, USA, UK, and Italy.

He was born Viacheslav Konstantinovich Turzhanski on March 4, 1891, in Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire (now Kiyiv, Ukraine). Studied painting and art ...

42. Viggo Larsen

Director | Der Eid des Stephan Huller

Viggo Larsen was born on August 14, 1880 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was a director and actor, known for Der Eid des Stephan Huller (1912), The Grey Lady (1909) and Das Kriegslied der Rheinarmee (1914). He died on January 6, 1957 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

43. Gerhard Lamprecht

Director | Die Unehelichen

Gerhard Lamprecht was born on October 6, 1897 in Berlin, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for Children of No Importance (1926), Menschen untereinander (1926) and Schwester Veronica (1927). He was married to Elisabeth Donath. He died on May 4, 1974 in West Berlin, West Germany.

44. Lev Kuleshov

Director | Po zakonu

Lev Kuleshov was a Russian director who used the editing technique known as the "Kuleshov effect." Although some of the editing innovations, such as crosscutting were used by other directors before him, Kuleshov was the first to use it in the Soviet Russia. he was driving a Ford sports car amidst ...

45. Teinosuke Kinugasa

Director | Jigokumon

Former female impersonator who entered films in 1917 as an actor, turned to directing in 1922 and made some of the most formally brilliant Japanese films of the following decades. The few of Kinugasa's early works to have reached the West betray a highly mature, sophisticated talent. His best-known...

46. Germaine Dulac

Director | Âme d'artiste

The daughter of a cavalry captain, she was raised by a grandmother in Paris, where she studied various forms of art with an emphasis on music and the opera. In 1905 she married engineer-novelist Marie-Louis Albert-Dulac and under his influence veered toward journalism. As one of the leading radical...

47. André Antoine

Director | La terre

André Antoine was born on January 31, 1858 in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France. He was a director and writer, known for La terre (1921), Mademoiselle de La Seiglière (1921) and The Swallow and the Titmouse (1924). He died on October 19, 1943 in Le Pouliguen, Loire-Atlantique, France.

48. Karl Anton

Director | Immer nur Du

Karl Anton was born on October 25, 1898 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was a director and writer, known for Immer nur Du (1941), Die Wirtin zum Weißen Röß'l (1943) and Peter Voss, der Millionendieb (1946). He was married to Ruth Buchardt-Hansen. He ...

49. José Leitão de Barros

Director | Ala-Arriba!

José Leitão de Barros was born on October 22, 1896 in Lisbon, Portugal. He was a director and writer, known for Ala-Arriba! (1942), Camões (1946) and Lisboa (1930). He was married to Helena Roque Gameiro. He died on June 29, 1967 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Maria do Mar(1930)

50. Humberto Mauro

Director | Braza Dormida

Pioneer of Brazilian cinema. Humberto Mauro began his career in the provinces in 1926 and was brought to Rio de Janeiro by producer-director Adhemar Gonzaga in 1930. He went on to direct several features which were praised for their uniquely Brazilian style - notably Ganga Bruta (1933) - as well as...

51. Thomas Bentley

Director | After Office Hours

Thomas Bentley was born on February 23, 1884 in St George Hanover Square, London, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for After Office Hours (1932), Barnaby Rudge (1915) and The Lackey and the Lady (1919). He died on December 23, 1966 in Bournemouth, England, UK.

52. Graham Cutts

Director | Woman to Woman

Graham Cutts' career in the film industry began in 1909, when he became a film exhibitor. It wasn't long before he got involved in the production end of the business, and became a director in 1922. He was a co-founder of the prestigious studio Gainsborough Films, and while at Gainsborough guided ...

53. Herbert Wilcox

Producer | Victoria the Great

Herbert Wilcox was born on April 19, 1890 in West Norwood, London, England, UK. He was a producer and director, known for Victoria the Great (1937), Spring in Park Lane (1948) and The Loves of Robert Burns (1930). He was married to Anna Neagle, Maud Violet Bower and Dorothy Brown. He died on May 15...

54. J. Stuart Blackton

Director | The Glorious Adventure

In the US from the age of 10, he first worked as a journalist-illustrator for the New York World. Interviewing Thomas A. Edison, he so impressed the inventor with his drawings that Edison suggested he allow some of them to be photographed by the Kinetograph camera. The result was a short film, ...

55. August Blom

Director | Verdens Undergang

August Blom was born on December 26, 1869 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was a director and actor, known for The End of the World (1916), Kærlighedslængsel (1916) and The Airship Fugitives (1912). He died on January 10, 1947 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

56. Carl Boese

Director | Eva in Seide

Carl Boese was born on August 26, 1887 in Berlin, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for Eva in Seide (1928), Lemkes sel. Witwe (1928) and Rendezvous (1930). He was married to Elena Luber, Margot Hollaender and Grete Hollmann. He died on July 6, 1958 in Berlin, Germany.

57. Géza von Bolváry

Director | Opernball

Géza von Bolváry was born on December 26, 1897 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was a director and actor, known for Opernball (1939), Frühjahrsparade (1934) and Zwischen Strom und Steppe (1939). He was married to Helene von Bolvary. He died on August 10, 1961 in Rosenheim, ...

58. Gérard Bourgeois

Director | Terreur

Gérard Bourgeois was born on August 18, 1874 in Geneva, Switzerland. He was a director and writer, known for Terror (1924), Face à la mort (1925) and Le fils de la nuit (1919). He died on December 15, 1944 in Paris, France.

59. Paul Wegener

Actor | Der Golem

Paul Wegener was born in Arnoldsdorf, West Prussia, part of the German Empire. His birthplace is currently part of Poland, under the name "Jarantowice". Wegener's family included a number of scientists, the most notable being his cousin Alfred Wegener (1880-1930). Alfred is remembered as the ...

60. Rudolf Biebrach

Actor | Die rollende Kugel

Rudolf Biebrach was born on November 24, 1866 in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony [now Saxony, Germany]. He was an actor and director, known for Die rollende Kugel (1919), Auf der Alm, da gibt's ka Sünd (1915) and Der Ruf der Liebe (1916). He died on September 5, 1938 in Berlin, Germany.

61. Henrik Galeen

Writer | Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens

Henrik Galeen was born on January 7, 1881 in Stryj, Galicia, Austria-Hungary. He was a writer and director, known for Nosferatu (1922), The Golem (1914) and A Daughter of Destiny (1928). He was married to Comptess Ilse von Schenk and Elvira Adler. He died on July 30, 1949 in Randolph, Orange County...

62. Pyotr Chardynin

Director | Myortvye dushi

Pyotr (Peter, Petr) Chardynin was a prolific silent film director who made over 100 silent films in Russia, France, Germany, and Soviet Union.

He was born Pyotr Ivanovich Krasavtsev, on 28 January 1972, in Simbirsk, Russian Empire (now Ulyanovsk, Russia). His father was a small business owner, his ...

63. Aleksandre Tsutsunava

Director | Qristine

Aleksandre Tsutsunava was born on January 28, 1881 in Likhauri, Kutais Governorate, Russian Empire [now Republic of Georgia]. He was a director and writer, known for Qristine (1916), Djanki Guriashi (1928) and Vin aris damnashave? (1925). He died on October 25, 1955 in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, USSR [...

64. Muhsin Ertugrul

Director | Leblebici Horhor Aga

Muhsin Ertugrul also known as Ertugrul Muhsin Bey, was a Turkish actor and director.

Muhsin Ertugrul, who had important contributions to both Turkish theatre and Turkish cinema, was born in Istanbul on 28 February 1892. His first performance in theatre was in 1909 with the role of "Bob" in Sherlock ...

65. Mario Caserini

Director | Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei

Mario Caserini was born on February 26, 1874 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for The Last Days of Pompeii (1913), Capitan Fracassa (1919) and Romeo and Juliet (1908). He was married to Maria Caserini. He died on November 17, 1920 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

66. Urban Gad

Director | Das Feuer

Urban Gad was born on February 12, 1879 in Korsør, Denmark. He was a director and writer, known for Das Feuer (1914), The Devil's Assistant (1913) and The Call of the Child (1914). He was married to Esther Burgert Westenhagen and Asta Nielsen. He died on December 26, 1947 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

67. Arthur Robison

Director | Die Todesschleife

Arthur Robison was born on June 25, 1883 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Looping the Loop (1928), Warning Shadows (1923) and Der letzte Walzer (1927). He died on October 20, 1935 in Berlin, Germany.

Nächte des Grauens , Schatten , Manon Lescaut , Die Todesschleife .... talking_ The Informer , der student von Prag

68. Wilhelm Thiele

Director | The Madonna's Secret

Wilhelm Thiele was born on May 10, 1890 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now in Austria]. He was a director and writer, known for The Madonna's Secret (1946), Madame hat Ausgang (1931) and Das Totenmahl auf Schloß Begalitza (1923). He died on September 7, 1975 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, ...

69. Léon Poirier

Director | L'appel du silence

Léon Poirier was born on August 25, 1884 in Paris, France. He was a director and writer, known for The Call (1936), Brazza ou l'épopée du Congo (1940) and Soeurs d'armes (1937). He died on June 27, 1968 in Urval, Dordogne, France.

70. Joe May

Director | Asphalt

A businessman and operetta director, Joe May, one of the founders of the German cinema, started directing films in 1911 and started his own production company a few years later. He gave famous German director Fritz Lang his start in films, employing him as a screenwriter in his early films. After ...

71. Gustaf Molander

Director | En stilla flirt

He attended the Royal Dramatic Theatre's acting school 1907-1909 and went on to become an actor at the same theatre 1913-1926. His first work for the movies was the script to Wanted - A Film Actress (1917) and the follow-up Thomas Graals bästa barn (1918). He made his directing debut with ...

72. Luigi Maggi

Director | Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei

Luigi Maggi was born on December 21, 1867 in Turin, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for The Last Days of Pompeii (1908), I conquistatori (1921) and Satana (1912). He died on August 22, 1946 in Turin, Italy.

73. Otto Rippert

Director | Der Grüne Mann von Amsterdam

Otto Rippert was born in 1869 in Offenbach am Main, Hesse, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for Der Grüne Mann von Amsterdam (1916), Homunculus, 4. Teil - Die Rache des Homunculus (1917) and Homunculus (1916). He died on January 15, 1940 in Berlin, Germany.

Der Totentanz Pest in Florenz Homunculus

74. Paul Leni

Director | The Man Who Laughs

Paul Leni was born on July 8, 1885 in Stuttgart, Germany. He was an art director and director, known for The Man Who Laughs (1928), Das Rätsel von Bangalor (1918) and The Last Warning (1928). He died on September 2, 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

75. Raymond Bernard

Director | Anne-Marie

Raymond Bernard was born on October 10, 1891 in Paris, France. He was a director and writer, known for Anne-Marie (1936), Adieu... Chérie (1946) and La maison vide (1921). He was married to Jeanne Salley. He died on December 11, 1977 in Paris, France.

76. Raymond Longford

Director | The Mutiny of the Bounty

Raymond Longford was born on September 23, 1878 in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia. He was a director and writer, known for The Mutiny of the Bounty (1916), The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and The Dinkum Bloke (1923). He was married to Emilie Elizabeth Anschutz and Melena Louisa Keen. He died on April 2...

77. Fyodor Otsep

Director | Miss Mend

Fyodor Otsep was born on February 9, 1895 in Moscow, Russian Empire [now Russia]. He was a director and writer, known for The Adventures of the Three Reporters (1926), Amok (1934) and Pique Dame (1937). He was married to Anna Sten. He died on June 20, 1949 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

78. Benito Perojo

Director | Goyescas

Benito Perojo was born on June 14, 1894 in Madrid, Spain. He was a producer and director, known for Goyescas (1942), Marianela (1940) and A Prisoner Has Escaped (1934). He died on November 11, 1974 in Madrid, Spain.

79. Marcel L'Herbier

Director | L'inhumaine

Marcel L'Herbier was born on April 23, 1888 in Paris, France. He was a director and writer, known for L'inhumaine (1924), Le bonheur (1934) and Sacrifice d'honneur (1935). He was married to Marcelle Pradot. He died on November 26, 1979 in Paris, France.

L'Affaire du Collier de la Reine La Nuit Fantastique L'Argent The Inhuman Woman

80. Gustav Machatý

Director | Ekstase

Gustav Machatý was born on May 9, 1901 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic). His first experience with the motion picture industry was playing piano at movie theaters, accompanying silent pictures. In 1917, he made his debut as an actor.

In the early 1920s, he emigrated to ...

81. Max Reinhardt

Director | Sumurûn

Max Reinhardt was from an Austrian merchant family (surname officially changed from the family name Goldmann to Reinhardt in 1904), and even as a boy, after his family moved to Vienna, he haunted the "Hofburg Theater" and tried to see every play. In 1890 he studied at the Sulkowsky Theater in ...

82. Florián Rey

Writer | La aldea maldita

Spanish director Florian Rey began his career in the film industry in the 1920s as an actor, but he soon switched careers and directed his first film in 1924. His 1927 film La hermana San Sulpicio (1927) starred Spanish actress Imperio Argentina, whom he later married. His best-known film is La ...

83. Grigoriy Kozintsev

Director | Gamlet

Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev was born on March 22, 1905, in Kiev, Russian Empire (now Kiev, Ukraine). His father, named Mikhail Kozintsev, was a medical doctor. Young Kozintsev studied at the Kiev Gymnazium. There, in 1919, he organized experimental theatre "Arlekin" together with his fellow ...

84. Gustavo Serena

Actor | Assunta Spina

Gustavo Serena was born on October 5, 1881 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was an actor and director, known for Assunta Spina (1915), La signora delle camelie (1915) and Zappatore (1930). He died on April 16, 1970 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

85. Reinhold Schünzel

Actor | Notorious

The son of a German father and a Jewish mother, Schünzel was born in St. Pauli -- the best known, but also the poorest part of Hamburg. His father started off as an actor but economic circumstances forced him to turn towards commerce. For a while, the son followed in his footsteps. He undertook ...

86. Ugo Falena

Director | Il re fantasma

Ugo Falena was born on April 25, 1875 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Il re fantasma (1914), La vagabonda (1918) and Il natalizio della nonna (1924). He died on September 20, 1931 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

87. Robert Wiene

Director | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari

Robert Wiene was born on April 24, 1873 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany [now Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland]. He was a writer and director, known for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Das wandernde Licht (1916) and The Knight of the Rose (1925). He died on July 17, 1938 in Paris, France.

88. Louis Mercanton

Director | Oh! Ce baiser!

Louis Mercanton was born on May 4, 1879 in Nyon, Switzerland. He was a director and writer, known for Oh! Ce baiser! (1917), Suzanne (1916) and Vénus (1929). He died on April 29, 1932 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

89. Eduard Schnedler-Sørensen

Director | Telefondamen

Eduard Schnedler-Sørensen was born on September 22, 1886 in Denmark. He was a director and writer, known for Telefondamen (1917), Pigen fra Palls (1916) and Fjeldpigen (1917). He died on September 30, 1947 in Denmark.

90. Oskar Messter

Producer | Rapunzel

Oskar Messter was born on November 22, 1866 in Berlin, Germany. He was a producer and director, known for Rapunzel (1897), Das wandernde Licht (1916) and Tanz der Salome (1906). He was married to Antonie König and Margarete Wittmann. He died on December 7, 1943 in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany.

91. Julien Duvivier

Writer | Panique

Revered by such legendary fellow directors as Ingmar Bergman and Jean Renoir, Julien Duvivier is one of the most legendary figures in the history of French cinema. He is perhaps the most neglected of the "Big Five" of classic French cinema (the other four being Jean Renoir, Rene Clair, Jacques ...

92. Carl Froelich

Director | Es war eine rauschende Ballnacht

Carl Froelich was born on September 5, 1875 in Berlin, Germany. He was a director and producer, known for It Was a Gay Ballnight (1939), Magda (1938) and Wenn wir alle Engel wären (1936). He was married to Edith Faust and Emmy Hoffert. He died on February 12, 1953 in Berlin, Germany.

93. Franz Porten

Director | Othello

Franz Porten was born on August 23, 1859 in Zeltingen, Bernkastel, Rhine Province, Prussia [now Zeltingen-Rachtig, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany]. He was a director and writer, known for Othello (1907), Der Trompeter von Säckingen (1918) and Theodor Körner (1914). He died on May 21, 1932 ...

94. Jean Grémillon

Director | Pattes blanches

An educated man, Jean Grémillon (b.1898) should almost be mentioned in the same breath as the big five of the golden age of the French cinema (Carné, Renoir, Duvivier, Feyder and Clair). Some of his plans never came to anything: for instance, after World War 2, only three movies, which is too few ...

95. Émile Reynaud

Director | Le Rotisseur

Émile Reynaud was a French inventor born in Montreuil, Paris to Brutus Reynaud, an engineer who moved to Paris from Le Puy-en-Velay in 1842, and Marie-Caroline Bellanger, a former schoolteacher who educated Émile at home and taught him drawing and painting techniques. By 1862 he started his own ...

96. Jean Epstein

Director | La chute de la maison Usher

Jean Epstein was born on March 25, 1897 in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire [now Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland]. He was a director and writer, known for The Fall of the House of Usher (1928), Mauprat (1926) and Le lion des Mogols (1924). He died on April 2, 1953 in Paris, France.

97. Karel Lamac

Director | Wo die Lerche singt

Karel Lamac was born on January 27, 1897 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. He was a director and actor, known for Wo die Lerche singt (1936), Svejk na fronte (1926) and Eine Freundin so goldig wie Du (1930). He was married to Anny Ondra. He died on August 2, 1952 in Hamburg, Germany.

Chytte ho!

98. Jenö Janovics

Producer | Andor

Director and Managing Director Jenö Janovics was one of the pioneers of film in Hungary. He was instrumental in the formation of a systematic film production: Between 1914-17 his film companies Proja and Corvin worked with influential directors like Michael Curtiz, Márton Garas and Alexander Korda....

99. Yevgeny Bauer

Director | Coachman, don't drive the horses

Yevgeni Bauer was the most important filmmaker of the early Russian cinema, who made about eighty silent films in 5 years before the Russian Revolution of 1917.

He was born Yevgeni Frantsevich Bauer in 1865, in Moscow, Russia, into an artistic family. His father, Franz Bauer, was a renown musician ...

100. Wladyslaw Starewicz

Director | Zhitel nyeobitayemovo ostrova

Although his name nowadays means very little except to animation buffs (and even they have to be pretty well informed), Wladyslaw Starewicz ranks alongside Walt Disney, as one of the great animation pioneers, and his career started nearly a decade before Disney's. He became an animator by accident ...