- Born
- Died
- Birth namePaul Josef Levi
- Paul Leni was born on July 8, 1885 in Stuttgart, Germany. He was an art director and director, known for The Man Who Laughs (1928), Das Rätsel von Bangalor (1918) and The Last Warning (1928). He died on September 2, 1929 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Expressionist German director, whose work influenced Eisenstein in Russia, as well as Hollywood film makers at Universal and RKO in the 1930's and 40's. A master at Gothic horror, he began as a stage designer for Max Reinhardt and Leopold Jessner. Directed films from 1913, as well as doubling up as art director, using stylized sets and accentuated contrasts between light and shade. His most famous films were Waxworks (1924) in Germany, and - during his spell at Universal from 1927-28 - the definitive classic haunted house mystery, The Cat and the Canary (1927).
- Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume One, 1890-1945". Pages 649-651. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1987.
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