Werner Herzog's Real Name: Werner Stipetic

Quick answer: Werner Herzog's documented birth name is Werner Stipetic. Encyclopaedia Britannica also lists the form Werner H. Stipetic. The sources differ on his exact birthplace: Britannica gives September 5, 1942, in Munich, Germany, while an Encyclopedia.com filmography heading gives Sachrang on the same date; the same Encyclopedia.com narrative, however, says he was born in Munich and soon taken to Sachrang (Encyclopaedia Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

Encyclopedia.com says that growing up he was known by his mother's maiden name, Stipetic (the page's encoding varies slightly), and that he later adopted the surname Herzog, a German word meaning "duke," because he felt it had dramatic flair. Britannica gives September 5, 1942, in Munich. Encyclopedia.com's longer narrative agrees he was born in Munich and that, shortly afterward, his mother took him and his older brother to Sachrang, a mountain village on the German-Austrian border, during World War II; the family returned to Munich in 1954. Britannica says that in his youth he studied history, literature, and music in Munich and at the University of Pittsburgh and traveled widely. Encyclopedia.com adds that he attended a classical Gymnasium in Munich until 1961, later studied at the University of Munich, and at one point worked as a welder in a steel factory connected with work for the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In 1966 he founded Werner Herzog Filmproduktion; Encyclopedia.com also notes a 1974 walk from Munich to Paris to visit the film historian Lotte Eisner.

Career highlights

He became a leading figure in postwar West German cinema, alongside Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff, Britannica records. An early short, Herakles, appeared in 1962, and his first feature, Lebenszeichen (1967; Signs of Life), followed. He often wrote and produced his own films on small budgets. Best-known titles include Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972; Aguirre, the Wrath of God), Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle (1975; The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser), and Fitzcarraldo, for which Encyclopedia.com notes he won the Cannes best director award in 1982. He had a long, sometimes difficult working relationship with actor Klaus Kinski, later the subject of Herzog's documentary Mein liebster Feind (1999; My Best Fiend). He has also acted, including in Jack Reacher (2012), Britannica says.

Name notes for searchers

Werner Stipetic (Britannica also gives Werner H. Stipetic) is the documented birth name; he has been known professionally as Werner Herzog. Searchers looking for the director of Aguirre, the Wrath of God or Fitzcarraldo, or for a leading filmmaker of the New German Cinema, are usually aiming at the same person.