Florence Balcombe (July 17, 1858 - May 25, 1937) was the wife of Bram Stoker whom she married in 1878. She had previously been betrothed to author/playwright Oscar Wilde. July 17 is the 198th day (199th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 167 days remaining. ... 1858 (MDCCCLVIII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Abraham Bram Stoker (November 8, 1847–April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula. ... 1878 (MDCCCLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... An author is the person who creates a written work, such as a book, story, article or the like. ... Template:Unsourced A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is someone who writes dramatic literature or drama. ... Oscar Fingal OFlahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason. ...

Balcombe, a celebrated Victorian beauty, is also chiefly remembered as being responsible for the destruction of most of the prints of the 1922 horror film Nosferatu. As detailed in David J. Skal's book, Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula From Novel to Stage to Screen, Florence was unaware of the existence of Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's Nosferatu until she received an anonymous letter from Berlin. The document included the program of a lavish cinematic event held in 1922, complete with full orchestral accompaniment, that had taken place in the Marble Garden at Berlin Zoological Gardens. The German made film was described in the handbill as "freely adapted from Bram Stoker's Dracula." (Nosferatu screenwriter Henrik Galeen had changed the names of the main characters - otherwise, the story was faithful to Stoker's novel.) 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (A Symphony of Horror in German) is a German Expressionist film shot in 1922 by F.W. Murnau. ... F W Murnau Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (December 28, 1888 – March 11, 1931) was one of the most influential directors of the silent film era. ... Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (A Symphony of Horror in German) is a German Expressionist film shot in 1922 by F.W. Murnau. ...

Balcombe was struggling financially and, as Stoker's literary executor, had never given permission for the adaptation, nor received payment for it. Her furious response was prompt and uncompromising - not only did she want the financial reparation she felt was due to the estate, she demanded that the negative and all prints of the film (which she would never actually see) be immediately destroyed.

Florence Balcombe launched a lawsuit in which she was represented by the lawyers of the British Incorporated Society of Authors. The suit took many years to resolve; at one point, the German production company Prana-Film declared bankruptcy to avoid paying for the adaptation. Finally, the case was won by Stoker's widow, with the final ruling in July 1925 stating that the negatives and all prints of the film should be handed over to the literary executor (Mrs Stoker) to be destroyed.

Despite this ruling, prints of the film slowly began to resurface in the late 1920s, with the first American screenings taking place in New York City and Detroit in 1929.

Florence Balcombe outlived her husband by 25 years and died in 1937.