HERZOG, WERNER

born Sept. 5, 1942, Munich original name Werner H. Stipetic German motion-picture director whose unusual films capture men and women at psychological extremes. With Rainer Fassbinder and Volker Schlndorff, Herzog led the postwar West German cinema movement that U.S. and European directors praised highly. Herzog was educated in Munich and at the University of Pittsburgh-studying history, literature, and theatre-and travelled extensively in Mexico, Great Britain, Greece, and The Sudan. Herakles (1962) was an early short, and Lebenszeichen (1967; Signs of Life) was his first feature film. He became known for working with small budgets and writing and producing his own motion pictures. Herzog's films, usually set in a distinct and unfamiliar landscape, are imbued with mysticism. In Auch Zwerge haben klein angefangen (1970; Even Dwarfs Started Small), the microcosm of a barren island inhabited by dwarfs stands for a larger reality, and in Fata Morgana (1971), a documentary on the Sahara, the desert acquires an eerie life of its own. One of Herzog's best known films, Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972; Aguirre, the Wrath of God), follows a band of Spanish explorers into unmapped territory, recording their gradual mental and physical self-destruction. Jeder fr sich und Gott gegen alle (1975; Every Man for Himself and God Against All) is a retelling of the Kaspar Hauser legend. Herzog's most realistic film, Stroszek (1977), concerns an immigrant in the United States, and its overwhelming theme is man's isolation from his world. Other films include Herz aus Glas (1977; Heart of Glass), Nosferatu (1979), Woyzeck (1979), and Fitzcarraldo (1982). Herzog's films are characterized by a surreal and subtly exotic quality, and he was hailed as one of the most innovative contemporary directors.