Werner Herzog (born 1942) is a German filmmaker whose films often feature ambitious or deranged protagonists with impossible dreams. Herzog's works span myriad genres and mediums, but he is particularly well known for his documentary films, which he typically narrates.

In 1962, Herzog made his directorial debut with the German-language short Herakles. His feature film debut—Signs of Life (1968)—garnered him the Silver Bear at Berlinale. Six years later, Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Starting in this period, Herzog collaborated with actor Klaus Kinski on five films, Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), Woyzeck (1979), Fitzcarraldo (1982), and Cobra Verde (1987). Fitzcarraldo won Herzog the Best Director Award at Cannes. His tumultuous relationship with Kinski was the subject of Herzog's 1999 documentary My Best Fiend. Herzog directed two films in 2009, My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done and the Nicolas Cage-starring Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, both of which were nominated for a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. He has directed a number of other fictional feature films as well as shorts.Herzog made his documentorial debut with 1969's The Flying Doctors of East Africa. In his documentaries, Herzog often explores the "moral or existential abyss", commonly in nature. His first documentary to screen at Cannes, Fata Morgana (1971), for instance, pairs footage of barren African desert landscapes with a recitation of the Mayan creation myth, the Popol Vuh. Similarly, Herzog's film Lessons of Darkness (1992) matches Richard Wagner overtures with documentation of the Gulf War's wake of chaos and destruction in Kuwait. Lessons of Darkness was criticized for its supposed "aestheticizing" of war. As with his fictional works, Herzog's documentaries also examine nonconformists outside conventional society, such as Timothy Treadwell in his 2005 documentary Grizzly Man. Herzog studied the pilot Dieter Dengler in his 1997 documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, which he later remade into the 2006 feature film Rescue Dawn starring Christian Bale. The following year, his exploration of the lives of scientists in Antarctica—2007's Encounters at the End of the World—garnered him an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary. For his 2018 documentary Meeting Gorbachev, Herzog had extensive interviews with the Soviet leader. He has directed dozens of other documentaries, including shorts and television segments.

In addition to his own works, Herzog has appeared in other projects, including as the narrator or subject of documentaries and mockumentaries. He has appeared in two Les Blank documentaries, including Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980), in which he eats his shoe after losing a bet to then-college student Errol Morris, and Burden of Dreams, shot during and about the chaotic filming of Herzog's Fitzcarraldo. Herzog has also appeared in commercial films and television series, often portraying villains, such as in the 2012 Tom Cruise film Jack Reacher, or, in 2019, The Mandalorian. He has made cameo appearances in The Simpsons, Parks and Recreation, and other television series.

Fiction films

As director Year Title Director Writer Producer Note 1968 Signs of Life 1970 Even Dwarfs Started Small Also Music Arranger 1972 Aguirre, the Wrath of God 1974 Also Additional Cinematographer 1976 Heart of Glass 1977 Stroszek 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre Woyzeck 1982 Fitzcarraldo 1984 Where the Green Ants Dream 1987 Cobra Verde 1991 Scream of Stone 2001 Invincible 2005 2006 Rescue Dawn 2009 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done 2015 Queen of the Desert 2016 Salt and Fire 2019 Family Romance, LLC Also Camera Operator, and Cinematographer 2026 Bucking Fastard

Acting roles Year Title Role Notes 1971 Geschichten vom Kübelkind Hurenmörder 1983 Man of Flowers Father 1989 Bride of the Orient Hard to Be a God Mita/Richard 1998 What Dreams May Come Chris's father 1999 Julien Donkey-Boy Father 2007 Mister Lonely Father Umbrillo The German 2012 Jack Reacher Zek Chelovek 2013 The Wind Rises Castorp Voice; English dub Home from Home Alexander von Humboldt 2014 Penguins of Madagascar Documentary filmmaker Voice 2024 Orion and the Dark Narrator 2027 Ally

Short films Year Title Director Writer Producer Editor Sound 1962 Herakles 1964 Game in the Sand 1966 1968 Last Words 1969 Precautions Against Fanatics 1976 No One Will Play with Me 1988 2009 Plastic Bag

Documentary films As director Year Title Director Writer Narrator Producer Notes 1969 1971 Handicapped Future Land of Silence and Darkness Fata Morgana 1974 1976 How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck 1981 Huie's Sermon God's Angry Man 1984 Ballad of the Little Soldier 1985 1989 Herdsmen of the Sun 1990 Echoes from a Sombre Empire 1991 Jag Mandir 1992 Lessons of Darkness 1993 Bells from the Deep 1994 1995 Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices 1997 Little Dieter Needs to Fly 1998 Wings of Hope 1999 My Best Fiend 2003 Wheel of Time 2004 2005 Grizzly Man 2007 Encounters at the End of the World Also sound 2010 Cave of Forgotten Dreams Happy People: A Year in the Taiga Co-directed with Dmitry Vasyukov 2011 Into the Abyss 2012 The Killers Unstaged 2016 Lo and Behold, Reveriesof the Connected World Into the Inferno 2018 Meeting Gorbachev Co-directed with André Singer 2019 Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin 2020 Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds Co-directed with Clive Oppenheimer 2022 Theatre of Thought 2025 Ghost Elephants

Producer only The Act of Killing (2012) The Look of Silence (2014) Red Army (2014) A Gray State (2017)

Ref.:

Appearances as himself Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980) Burden of Dreams (1982) The South Bank Show (1982) Series 5, Episode 25 Room 666 (1982) Tokyo-Ga (1985) Incident at Loch Ness (2004) All in This Tea (2007) Life Itself (2014)

Ref.:

As narrator La Soufrière (1977) Portrait Werner Herzog (1982) Ten Thousand Years Older (2002) Dinotasia (2012)

Short films Year Title Director Writer Producer 1977 1980 Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe 1986 Portrait Werner Herzog 2001 Pilgrimage 2002 Ten Thousand Years Older 2009 2011 Ode to the Dawn of Man 2013 From One Second to the Next

Television As director Year Title Director Narrator Notes 1991–1992Filmstunde Series of interviews conducted by Herzog 1999 Episode 9 "Christ and Demons in New Spain" 2012–2013 On Death Row 8 episodes

Producer only Last Exit: Space (2022)

Acting roles Year Title Role Notes 2010 Himself Voice; Episode: "It's a Black President, Huey Freeman" 2011, 2019,2020, 2021 Walter Hotenhoffer, Dr. Lund and The Amazing Herzog Voice; Episodes: "The Scorpion's Tale", "Crystal Blue-Haired Persuasion", "Screenless" and "Mother and Child Reunion" 2012 American Dad! Himself Voice; Episode: "Ricky Spanish" Metalocalypse Ishnifus Meaddle Voice; 9 episodes 2015 Parks and Recreation Keg Jeggings Episode: "2017" Rick and Morty Shrimply Pibbles Voice; Episode: "Interdimensional Cable 2: Tempting Fate" 2019 The Client Episodes: "Chapter 1: The Mandalorian", "Chapter 3: The Sin" and "Chapter 7: The Reckoning" 2022 The U.S. and the Holocaust Hermann GöringVoice, 1 episode 2024–present Conan O'Brien Must Go NarratorVoice

References

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