William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation.

At the age of sixteen, Dieterle had joined a traveling theater company as a handy-man, scene shifter, and apprentice actor.

They were chosen as actors in German-language versions of four Hollywood films, including Lloyd Bacon's Moby Dick (1930), in which Dieterle played Ahab.

After the four films were completed, Warner Brothers' Vice President of Production Hal B. Wallis was so impressed that he invited Dieterle to stay in Hollywood.

It included such films as the W. C. Fields musical Her Majesty, Love (1932), Jewel Robbery (1932), Adorable (1933), and Fog Over Frisco (1934) with Bette Davis.

Starring James Cagney, Olivia de Havilland, Joe E. Brown and a 15-year-old Mickey Rooney, the film had very mixed reviews for its "Americanization" of Shakespeare, but was a success on release.

Dieterle directed the first of his hugely successful "biography films" with actor Paul Muni, beginning with The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936).

"[4] These films included the second version of Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (Satan Met a Lady with Bette Davis), The Prince and the Pauper, and a bio-pic about Florence Nightingale, The White Angel.

Dieterle's next film was Blockade (1938), starring Henry Fonda as a dedicated Loyalist fighter and Madeline Carroll as the reluctant Franco spy who falls in love with him during the Spanish Civil War.

Juarez (1939) was the third biographical picture that Dieterle made with Muni, depicting the life of Mexican politician Benito Juárez and his conflict with Emperor Maximilian I.

David Thomson, for instance, has written that the bio-pics of the 1930s are "ponderous, Germanic works, suffering from staginess and the unrestrained histrionics of Paul Muni."

"[5] The Devil and Daniel Webster (also known as All That Money Can Buy, 1941) is a gothic fantasy and loose adaptation of the Faust legend set in New Hampshire during the 1840s.

It stars Walter Huston and Edward Arnold as the titular Prince of Darkness and early Congressman, who battle over the soul of Jabez Stone after an ill-conceived deal with the devil.

Although unsuccessful upon its initial release, it is today a classic with Noirish cinematography by Joe August, Oscar-winning score by Bernard Herrmann, and still impressive special effects.

After another bio-pic about President Andrew Johnson called Tennessee Johnson (1942) starring Van Heflin and Lionel Barrymore and a remake of Kismet (1944) with Ronald Colman and Marlene Dietrich, Love Letters (1945) stars Joseph Cotten as a soldier who writes love letters on behalf of a friend during World War II.

After meeting in Central Park one day, Cotten paints a portrait of Jones that makes him famous, but is unable to find his muse who he has fallen in love with.

The film's budget dramatically increased during production and Selznick was forced to sell Dieterle's contract to Paramount Pictures, where his career never reached the heights of the previous 15 years.

He made two more Hollywood films before moving back to Europe: a biopic of Richard Wagner, Magic Fire (1955) for Republic Pictures and Omar Khayyam (1957).

He moved back to Germany and became the director of the Der Grüne Wagen theatre, then based in Taufkirchen near Munich, which he ran together with his wife, Charlotte Hagenbruch.