May (November 7, 1880) was one of the pioneers of the German film industry. He worked as a producer, director and screenwriter and made his first film, Die Fahrt nach Hamburg, in 1911.

In 1914, he founded his own production company and hired the future famous director Fritz Lang as a screenplay writer on his (May’s) first films. He made many short and feature films such as Das Indische Grabmal: Die Sendung des Yoghi (1921), Das Indische Grabmal: Der Tiger von Eschnapur (1921), Heimkehr (1928) and Asphalt (1929).

When the Nazis came to power, May immigrated to the US where he made his film Confession (1937) and afterwards signed a contract with Universal Pictures.

There he worked on B production films and made several movies, such as The House of Fear (1939), The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The House of the Seven Gables (1940) and his last one, Johnny Doesn\'t Live Here Any More (1944).