Trivia

Fought with the German Army; he died in French captivity.

Stellan Rye became one of the most important directors of the still young silent film and till outbreak of World War I he realised impressive movies as a director.

The director Stellan Rye came from Denmark to Germany like few years ago Urban Gad. And like Gad he set an important course to the early German silent movie era.

With his senseless early death the film business lost an important visionary and prohibited some later masterpieces.

In "Der Student von Prag" (13) the leading actor Paul Wegener appeared twice in the same scene and Stellan Rye represented the first double role in a movie to an astonished audience. The writer of the novel for this movie - Hanns Heinz Ewers - engaged Stellan Rye personally to Germany for realizing this film version.

On November 14 - less than four months after the outbreak of war - Stellan Rye was seriously wounded and died in French war captivity.

Because of his military education in Denmark Stellan Rye served as a soldier for the German army during World War I.

He began his artistic career as an actor at the theater in Denmark. Also in his native country he made first experiences in the film business as a screenwriter for the movies "Det blaa blod - Eva" (1914) and "De Dodes Ø" (1912). In the following year he went to Germany and he wrote film history with his first movie as a director straightaway.