Robert Wiene(1873-1938)

Former stage actor, writer and director, graduate of Vienna University, who first worked in films from 1913. Had a reputation as a director of melodramas, before his making his most famous picture, Le Cabinet du docteur Caligari (1920), which is considered one of the best examples of German expressionism. His other noteworthy effort in the same vein was the horror film Les mains d'Orlac (1924). Wiene escaped Nazi persecution by seeking exile in France, where he died in 1938.