They Played Vampires

Max Schreck in 'Nosferatu'

The granddaddy of lowlife vampires was played by German actor MAX SCHRECK in F. W. Murnau's 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror.  Murnau had hoped to get the rights to do a film version of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, but Stoker's widow refused. Murnau made the movie anyway, changing Dracula's name to Count Orlock. After the film's release, Stoker's widow cried foul, the production studio went bankrupt -- some say as a way to avoid paying any restitution -- and the movie was yanked from distribution. It was finally re-released in 1972 and is now widely available. A fictionalized account of the making of Nosferatu is the 2000 film Shadow Of The Vampire.