- 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 The Student of Prague (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.
- He is perhaps best remembered for his expressionistic silent Golem series, of which especially The Golem (1920) (also released as "The Golem", 1920 [USA 1921]) is famous.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Paul Wegener was a man who was interested in the art of the Far East and the world literature. Especially the mystery could fascinate him very much. To his favorite writers belong authors like Edgar Allan Poe and E.T.A. Hoffmann. This could be one reasen that he looked at the movie in his starting time as a future element of the society. Therefore it wasn't a surprise that he amazed the audience with his first picture called "Der Student von Prag" (13), where he played a double role. The picture was directed in a remarkable effective double exposure and set new stress. The story had been written by the famous Hanns Heinz Ewers, who was called the successor of Edgar Allan Poe. This picture went down in history as first movie with artistic demanding in Germany together with Max Macks movie "Der Andere" (12).
- Paul Wegener did more for the German film than anybody else; above all, he was the first to see what the film medium could be used for. He was the pioneer of the science fiction film, of the fantastic film, and the use of special effects.
- Predestined because of his appearance, most of the time he played twilight characters; so in Svengali (1927), A Daughter of Destiny (1928), and "Unheimliche Geschichten" (1932) - Wegener's first sound film.
- His first movies dealt with the "twilight zone" and created nearly fairytale lines. To this movies count "Rübezahls Hochzeit" (1916),"Der Yoghi" (1916) and "Der Rattenfänger" (1918).
- At the age of 20, Wegener decided to end his law studies and concentrate on acting, touring the provinces before joining Max Reinhardt's acting troupe in 1906.
- In 1926 he appeared in his only Hollywood film, Rex Ingram's The Magician (1926), in which he played the Aleister Crowley-esque Oliver Haddo in an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's story, followed by The Strange Case of Captain Ramper (1927). In 1928, he starred alongside Brigitte Helm in his old collaborator Henrik Galeen's adaptation of Hanns Heinz Ewers' A Daughter of Destiny (1928), playing the Frankenstein (1931)-like Professor ten Brinken.
- As most of his colleagues of this time he won his spurs at the theater. There he worked since 1895 and remained true to this profession till his death.
- In the 1930s, he returned to the direction and captured movies like A Man Wants to Get to Germany (1934) and Unter Ausschluß der Öffentlichkeit (1937) on the screen.
- After the wartime he turned more towards the theater. He had his last film part in the movie "Der grosse Mandarin" (1948). One year before he went through a first stroke, and a stopping of the performance "Nathan" on 11. July 1948 because of a faintness pointed to his shaky health.
- In the 1920s, he concentrated more and more on the play-acting, and his direction work became rare.
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