5. Max Schreck
Max Schreck was an actor who so perfectly embodied the German Expressionism movement of the 1920s, and though he did in fact work on nearly 40 films throughout his life, there is only one for which even ardent cineastes really remember him, as the villainous vampire Count Orlok in F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu. The film, frequently cited as one of the greatest horrors ever made, relied on creepy chiaroscuro lighting and Schreck's terrifying performance to cement this status. Throughout the remaining 14 years that he continued to work in cinema post-Nosferatu, Schreck never managed to gain esteem with a regard anywhere near that of his signature role, and perhaps this is in part because the role required so much make-up, rendering his actual likeness virtually unrecognisable.