From 1917 until his death, Veidt appeared in more than 100 films. One of his earliest performances was as the murderous somnambulist Cesare in director Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920), a classic of German Expressionist cinema, with Werner Krauss and Lil Dagover. His starring role in "The Man Who Laughs" (1928), as a disfigured circus performer whose face is cut into a permanent grin, provided the (visual) inspiration for the Batman villain the Joker. Veidt starred in other silent horror films such as "The Hands of Orlac" (1924), also directed by Robert Wiene, "The Student of Prague" (1926) and "Waxworks" (1924), in which he played Ivan the Terrible.