Paul Leni

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Paul Leni (July 8, 1885 – September 2, 1929) was a German filmmaker, and a a key figure in German expressionist filmmaking, making his most popular contributions with Waxworks, The Man Who Laughs, and The Cat and the Canary.

A native of Berlin, Leni became an avant-garde painter at age 15 and then began working as a set designer for theater, working with such prominent directors as Max Reinhardt. Around 1914, he became an art director for German films and worked in that capacity until he moved to Hollywood in 1927 to accept Carl Laemmle's invitation to become a director at Universal Studios. There Leni made a distinguished directorial debut with The Cat and the Canary (1927) a haunted house film that had great influence over Universal's later classic horror series.

Unfortunately, Leni was only to make three more such films before dying of blood poisoning in 1929.