Biografía

He is perhaps best remembered for his expressionistic silent Golem series, of which especially El Golem (1920) (also released as "The Golem", 1920 [USA 1921]) is famous.

Studied law and art history. Acting classes in Leipzig. With Max Reinhardt's Deutsches Theater in Berlin, 1906-20. Toured North and South America with his own acting troupe. Film debut in 1913 as actor in Der Student von Prag (1913). Having learned the art of expressionist lighting from Reinhardt, he began to direct at the same time, specialising in mysticism, the grotesque and the macabre. Of imposing stature, large-faced, with high cheek bones, narrow eyes and a small mouth, he was physically well-suited for playing monstrous or demonic characters, most famously in the 'Golem' films.

In 1914 he shot "Der Golem"; with this movie he started a trilogy - probably the first one in film history - and it followed "Der Golem und die Tänzerin" (1917) and "Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam" (1920). With last one he achieved the first worldwide success for a German movie.

His son, Peter Wegener (1917 - 2008), with Lyda Salmonova, was an engineering physicist on the German V2 rocket project at Peenemunde. Following the war, he came to America as part of Operation Paperclip, and eventually became a professor at Yale University.

Paul Wegener didn't look like a typical German. His face looked like it was created from stone and his sticking out cheekbones and narrow eyes let him seem Far Eastern like a Mongolian.