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'Nosferatu' Director's Head Stolen From German Grave

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Before Bela Lugosi was Count Dracula, the German director F. W. Murnau created his own bloodsucking fiend - a kind of tribute band Dracula that he called Count Orlok - in his 1922 silent film "Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror." Well, it was a lot less expensive than paying for the rights to film Bram Stoker's "Dracula." Murnau gave his hemoglobin-gobbling villain a bald, skeletal skull, long fingernails like eagles' talons. F. W. Murnau eventually moved to Hollywood. He made some films, but died in a car accident in 1931. He was buried back in German, and over the years, his tomb has become a kind of tourist spot for Satanists. This week, F. W. Murnau's skull was taken from his iron-clad coffin in the Stahnsdorf Cemetery near Berlin. Police are looking for witnesses. They may have to wait until after sunset. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.