Werner Herzog (real name Werner H. Stipetic) was born in Munich on September 5, 1942.
He grew up in a remote mountain village in Bavaria and never saw any films, television, or telephones as a child.
He started travelling on foot from the age of 14. He made his first phone call at the age of 17. During high school he worked the nightshift as a welder in a steel factory to produce his first films and made his first film in 1961 at the age of 19.
Since then he has produced, written, and directed more than forty films, published more than a dozen books of prose, and directed as many operas.


BOOKS

1972
Herzog, W. SCÉNARIOS: SIGNES DE VIE-LES NAINS AUSSI ONT COMMENCÉ PETITS, FATA MORGANA-AGUIRRE, LA COLÈRE DE DIEU, Bibliothèque Allemande P.O.L., Hachette.

1974
VOM GEHEN IM EIS, München, Hanser. Also translated into Croatian, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Finnish, Spanish, and Portuguese

1976
HEART OF GLASS, by Alan Greenberg, with text by Werner Herzog and Herbert Achternbusch, Munich, Skellig.

1976
L'ÉNIGME DE KASPAR HAUSER (JEDER FÜR SICH UND GOTT GEGEN ALLE), in AVANT-SCÈNE CINÉMA, 176 (November). Also translated into Italian.

1977
DREHBÜCHER I: LEBENSZEICHEN, AUCH ZWERGE HABEN KLEIN ANGEFANGEN: FATA MORGANA, München, Skellig.

1977
DREHBÜCHER II: AGUIRRE, DER ZORN GOTTES: JEDER FÜR SICH UND GOTT GEGEN ALLE; LAND DES SCHWEIGENS UND DER DUNKELHEIT, München, Skellig. Also translated into English.

1979
DREHBÜCHER III: STROSZEK, NOSFERATU: Zwei Filmerzählungen, München, Hanser. Also translated into Italian.

1980
SCREENPLAYS: AGUIRRE, THE WRATH OF GOD, EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL AND LAND OF SILENCE AND DARKNESS, trans. by Alan Greenberg and Martje Herzog, New York, Tanam.

1982
FITZCARRALDO: ERZÄHLUNG, München, Hanser. Also translated into Dutch, English, Italian, Russian.

1982
FITZCARRALDO FILMBUCH, München, Schirmer/Mosel. Also translated into Italian, Polish, and Dutch.

1982
FITZCARRALDO, NOSFERATU, STROSZEK, Paris, Mazarine.

1982
NOSFERATU, IL PRINCIPE DELLA NOTTE, Due racconti cinematografici, Milano, Ulbulibri.

1984
WO DIE GRÜNEN AMEISEN TRÄUMEN: Filmerzählung, München, Hanser. Also translated into French and Italian.

1987
COBRA VERDE, Filmerzählung, München, Hanser. Also translated into Croatian, French, and Italian.

2004
EROBERUNG DES NUTZLOSEN, München, Hanser.


OPERA

1986 DOKTOR FAUSTUS by Ferruccio Busoni, Teatro Comunale Bologna
Conducted by Zoltan Pesko

1987
LOHENGRIN by Richard Wagner, Festival Bayreuth
Conducted by Peter Schneider

1989
GIOVANNA D'ARCO by Giuseppe Verdi, Teatro Comunale Bologna
Conducted by Riccardo Chailly

1991
THE MAGIC FLUTE by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Teatro Bellini, Catania
Conducted by Spiros Argiris

1992
LA DONNA DEL LAGO by Gioacchino Rossini, Teatro La Scala, Milano
Conducted by Riccardo Muti

1993
THE FLYING DUTCHMAN by Richard Wagner, Opera Bastille, Paris
Conducted by Myung -Whun Chung

1994
IL GUARANY by Antonio Carlos Gomes, Oper Bonn
Conducted by John Neschling with Placido Domingo

1994
NORMA by Vincenzo Bellini, Arena di Verona, Italy
Conducted by Gustav Kuhn

1996
IL GUARANY by Antonio Carlos Gomes, The Washington Opera, USA
Conducted by John Neschling with Placido Domingo

1997
CHUSHINGURA by Shigeaki Saegusa, Tokyo

1997
TANNHÄUSER by Richard Wagner, Teatro de la Maestranza, Sevilla
Conducted by Klaus Weise

1998
TANNHÄUSER by Richard Wagner, Teatro di San Carlo, Napoli
Conducted by Gustav Kuhn

1998
TANNHÄUSER by Richard Wagner, Teatro Massimo, Palermo
Conducted by John Neschling

1999
THE MAGIC FLUTE by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Teatro Bellini, Catania
Conducted by Zoltan Pesko

1999
FIDELIO by Ludwig van Beethoven, Teatro La Scala, Milano
Conducted by Riccardo Muti

2000
TANNHÄUSER by Richard Wagner, Baltimore Opera Company
Conducted by Christian Badea

2001
GIOVANNA D'ARCO by Giuseppe Verdi, Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova
Conducted by Nello Santi

2001
TANNHÄUSER by Richard Wagner, Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro
Conducted by Karl Martin

2001
TANNHÄUSER by Richard Wagner, Houston Grand Opera, Houston
Conducted by John Fiore

2001
THE MAGIC FLUTE by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Baltimore Opera Company
Conducted by Will Crutchfield

2002
THE FLYING DUTCHMEN by Richard Wagner, Domstufen Festspiele Erfurt
Conducted by Norbert Gugerbauer

2008
PARSIFAL by Richard Wagner, Palau de les Arts Valencia
Conducted by Lorin Maazel



STAGE

1992 VARIÉTÉ by Mauricio Kagel, Hebbel Theater, Berlin

1992
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM by W. Shakespeare, Theatro Joao Caetano, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1993 SPECIALITAETEN Etablissement Ronacher, Vienna


ACTING CREDITS

1970
GESCHICHTEN VOM KUBELKIND directed by Edgar Reitz and Ula Stockl

1973/74
ANDERTHALB TAGE FUSSWEG directed by György Polnauer

1979
I AM MY FILMS (WAS ICH BIN, SIND MEINE FILME) directed by Christian Weisenborn and Erwin Keusch

1980
WERNER HERZOG EATS HIS SHOE directed by Les Blank

1980
GARLIC IS AS GOOD AS TEN MOTHERS directed by Les Blank

1982
CHAMBRE 666 directed by Wim Wenders

1982
BURDEN OF DREAMS directed by Les Blank

1983
MAN OF FLOWERS directed by Paul Cox

1985
TOKYO-GA directed by Wim Wenders

1988
BRIDE OF THE ORIENT (GEKAUFTES GLÜCK) directed by Urs Odermatt

1989
HARD TO BE A GOD directed by Peter Fleischmann

1995
BURNING HEART directed by Peter Patzak

1998
WHAT DREAMS MAY COME directed by Vincent Ward

1999
JULIEN DONKEY BOY directed by Harmony Korine

2004
INCIDENT AT LOCH NESS directed by Zak Penn

2006
MISTER LONELY directed by Harmony Korine

2008
THE GRAND directed by Zak Penn



Films (as director)

1962
Herakles

1964
Game in the Sand

1966
The Unprecedented Defence of the Fortress Deutschkreuz

1968
Signs of Life

1967
Last Words

1969
Precautions against Fanatics

1969
The Flying Doctors of East Africa

1970
Even Dwarfs Started Small

1970
Fata Morgana

1971
Handicapped Future

1971
Land of Silence and Darkness

1972
Aguirre, the Wrath of God

1973
The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner

1974
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser: Every Man for Himself and God against All

1976
Heart of Glass

1976
How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck

1976
No One Will Play with Me

1976
Stroszek

1977
La Soufrière

1978
Nosferatu

1979
Woyzeck

1980
God's Angry Man

1980
Huie's Sermon

1982
Fitzcarraldo

1984
Ballad of the Little Soldier

1984
The Dark Glow of the Mountains

1984
Where the Green Ants Dream

1987
Cobra Verde

1988
Les Gauloises

1989
Wodaabe - Herdsmen of the Sun

1990
Echoes from a Sombre Empire

1991
Jag Mandir: The Eccentric Private Theater of the Maharaja of Udaipur

1991
Scream of Stone

1992
Film Lesson

1992
Lessons of Darkness

1993
Bells from the Deep

1994
The Transformation of the World into Music

1995
Death for Five Voices

1997
Little Dieter Needs to Fly

1999
Wings of Hope

1999
My Best Fiend

1999
The Lord and the Laden

2000
Invincible

2000
Christ and Demons in New Spain

2001
Ten Thousand Years Older

2003
Wheel of Time

2004
The White Diamond

2005
Grizzly Man

2005
The Wild Blue Yonder

2006
Rescue Dawn

2007
Encounters At The End Of The World

2008
Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans

2009
My Son My Son What Have Ye Done

2009
La Boheme

2010
Cave of The Forgotten Dreams