Studied at the University of Munich and later earned a scholarship to Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, but dropped out after some days.

Said in commentary to Incident at Loch Ness (2004) that his first book was a Marshall Plan copy of "Winnie the Pooh", and it remains one of his favorites.

Herzog once promised to eat his shoe if a young American film student went out and actually made the film he was always only talking about. The young student was Errol Morris, who met the challenge with his off-beat 1978 pet cemetery documentary Gates of Heaven (1980) (and went on to make The Thin Blue Line (1988) and Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997)). Herzog makes good on his promise in the film Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe (1980), directed by Les Blank.

Joaquin Phoenix was in a car accident on a winding canyon road that flipped his car over. Shaken and confused, Phoenix heard a tapping on his window and a voice say, "Just relax." Unable to see the man, Phoenix replied, "I'm fine. I am relaxed." Then managed to see that the man was Werner Herzog, and Herzog replied, "No, you're not." After helping Phoenix out of the wreckage, Herzog phoned for an ambulance and vanished.

Worked nights in a steel factory in 1961 to raise money for his films. In 1966, he was employed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). .

Has two brothers, Tilbert and Lucki, and one sister, Sigrid.

Was voted the 35th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

In late 2005, during an interview with BBC journalist Mark Kermode regarding Grizzly Man (2005), a sniper opened fire on them with an air rifle. Kermode panicked when Herzog calmly said, "Someone is shooting at us." One of the pellets then hit Herzog. An unmoved Herzog insisted on continuing the interview.

Only feature-film director to have made a film on every continent.

Claims to have walked by foot from Munich, Germany to Paris, France (a distance of about 500 miles) in 1974 to prevent the very sick film historian and good friend Lotte Eisner from dying (as, applying his logic, she wouldn't dare to die until he visited her on her deathbed). Eisner indeed went on to live for 8 more years after Herzog's journey.

When he was thirteen years old he and his family lived in an apartment in Munich which they shared with several other people. One of them was the actor Klaus Kinski.

Lives in Los Angeles.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945- 1985". Pages 422-429. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

Herzog claims in a 2006 Bloomberg interview that he had the chance to direct both Brokeback Mountain (2005) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

Claimed that when he was a few days old, he was nearly killed after Allied bombs caused a skylight in his nursery to shatter. The shards fell around his cot but somehow did not injure him.

Herzog is being admired for being the only director who was able to work with the late and very eccentric Klaus Kinski.

Has three children from three women: Rudolph Herzog (born in 1973), Hanna Mattes (born in 1980) and Simon Herzog (born in 1989).

Mother, Elisabeth, and father, Dietrich, were biologists.

Brother of Lucki Stipetic.

Made his first phone call at the age of 17.

Was romantically linked to Eva Mattes.

Invited to join AMPAS in 2006