Schreck was married to actress Fanny Normann. She appeared in a few movies. She was often credited as Fanny Schreck. The word "schreck" is also the German word for "fright", or "terror". Because of this, many authors who were unaware of Schreck's on-stage credits (and ignorant of the rather sparse details of his personal life) speculated that there was really no such person, and that Schreck was, in fact, some well-known actor who had chosen to adopt a pseudonym for his role in "Nosferatu". One of the prime "suspects" was Alfred Abel; however, a careful examination of the photographs of these two actors is sufficient to dispel such notions.