John Gottowt

Born: 1881-06-15

John Gottowt (born Isidor Gesang; 15 June 1881 – 29 August 1942) was an Austrian actor, stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies. Gottowt was born in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary (present-day Lviv, Ukraine) into a Jewish family. After his education in Vienna, he joined the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1905, working for Max Reinhardt as an actor and director. Gottowt was mainly active in different theatres in Berlin as a character actor and director. His first silent film appearance was in Paul Wegener’s Der Student von Prag ("The Student of Prague") (1913). In 1920 he appeared in Robert Wiene's Genuine and took the main role in the early science fiction film Algol. In 1921 he played Professor Bulwer (Abraham van Helsing) in the classic silent film Nosferatu directed by F.W. Murnau. Gottowt made also several films with his brother-in-law Henrik Galeen but, as a Jew, was banned in 1933 from working as a professional actor. After a few years in Denmark he moved to Kraków in Poland. He was murdered in 1942 by an SS officer while in hiding in Wieliczka, disguised as a Roman Catholic priest.


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Nosferatu

as Professor Bulwer
Released: 1922-02-16

The mysterious Count Orlok summons Thomas Hutter to his remote Transylvanian castle in the...

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Nosferatu: The First Vampire

as Professor Bulwer - ein Paracelsianer
Released: 1998-03-15

The horror classic, Nosferatu, remastered with a soundtrack by Type-O Negative and hosted by...

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The Student of Prague

as Scapinelli - An Old Adventurer
Released: 1913-08-22

Prague, Bohemia, 1820. Balduin, a penniless student, falls in love with Countess Margit, a...

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Waxworks

as Owner of the Waxworks
Released: 1924-11-13

A poet is hired by the owner of a wax museum in a circus to write tales about Harun al Raschid,...

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Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire

as Guyard
Released: 1920-09-02

Since completing a portrait of Genuine, a high priestess, Percy becomes irritable and withdrawn....

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Algol: Tragedy of Power

as Algol
Released: 1920-09-03

An alien from the planet Algol gives a man a device that creates enough energy to power the...

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The Living Dead

as Beamter des Mechanischen Museums
Released: 1932-09-06

A crazed scientist murders his wife, walls her up, then flees. A reporter sets out to track him...

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The Hunchback and the Dancer

as James Wilton
Released: 1920-07-08

Wilton, a hunchback, who was always scorned and ridiculed by women, returns from Java a rich man...

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The Flight in the Night

as Bediensteter
Released: 1926-12-13

Based on the play Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello. Conrad Veidt plays Count di Nolli, a nobleman...

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Das schwarze Los

as uncredited
Released: 1913-10-20

About members of a Commedia dell'arte troupe . Initially cheerful, later tragic events in a...

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The Twelfth Hour

as Sanitarium Doctor
Released: 1930-05-16

A version of Nosferatu to which sound was added. Some scenes were left out and new ones were...

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Morphium

as uncredited
Released: 1919-01-01

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Die Prinzessin von Neutralien

as The billionaire Vandergold
Released: 1917-06-01

Billionaire's daughter Ethel Vandergolt has rejected so many lovers that they set up a club to...

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