Alexander Granach
Born: 1890-04-18 in Werbowitz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Verbivtsi, Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine]
Died: 1945-03-14
Known For: Acting
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Granach (April 18, 1890 – March 14, 1945) was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s who immigrated to the United States in 1938. Granach was born Jessaja Gronach in Werbowitz (Wierzbowce/Werbiwci) (Horodenka district, Austrian Galicia then, now Verbivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine), to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbühne in Berlin. Granach entered films in 1922; among the most widely exhibited of his silent efforts was the vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), in which the actor was cast as Knock, the lunatic counterpart to Renfield, effectively a substitute name for Dracula. He co-starred in such major early German talkies as Kameradschaft (1931). The Jewish Granach fled to the Soviet Union when Hitler came to power. When the Soviet Union also proved inhospitable, he settled in Hollywood, where he made his first American film appearance as Kopalski in Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Granach proved indispensable to film makers during the war years, effectively portraying both dedicated Nazis (he was Julius Streicher in The Hitler Gang, 1944) and loyal anti-fascists. Perhaps his best role was as Gestapo Inspector Alois Gruber in Fritz Lang's Hangmen Also Die! (1943). His last film appearance was in MGM's The Seventh Cross (1944), in which almost the entire supporting cast was prominent European refugees.
Filmography
2025
- Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror as Knock - ein Häusermakler
1944
- The Seventh Cross as Zillich
- Voice in the Wind as Angelo
- The Hitler Gang as Julius Streicher
- My Buddy as Tim Oberta
1943
- For Whom the Bell Tolls as Paco
- Hangmen Also Die! as Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
- Mission to Moscow as Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
- Three Russian Girls as Major Braginski
1942
- Half Way to Shanghai as Mr. Nikolas
- Joan of Paris as Gestapo Agent
- Northwest Rangers as Pierre - Man in Casino
- Wrecking Crew as Joe Poska
1941
- So Ends Our Night as The Pole
- A Man Betrayed as T. Amato
1940
- Foreign Correspondent as Hotel Valet (uncredited)
1939
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame as Soldier (uncredited)
- Ninotchka as Comrade Kopalski
1936
- Gypsies as Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader
- The Struggle as Rovelli (uncredited)
1931
- The Theft of the Mona Lisa as Redner
- 1914: The Last Days Before the War as Jaurès' Friend
- Comradeship as Kasper
- Danton as Marat
- A Man's a Man
1930
- The Twelfth Hour as Karsten (Archive footage)
1929
- Flucht in die Fremdenlegion as Beppo, Legionär
- The Adjutant of the Czar as Stranger
- Pavement Butterfly as Coco
- Das letzte Fort as Gestino
1928
- Accident
- Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland as Pollaczek
- Freie Fahrt
1927
- Die berühmte Frau as Diener bei Alfredo
- Svengali as Geiger Gecko
1926
- Qualen der Nacht as Murphy
1924
1923
- I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity as Judas Ischariot
- Warning Shadows as Shadowplayer
- Man by the Roadside as Shoemaker
- Paganini as Ferucchio
- Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant as Archivar Lindhorst
- Navarro the Dancer as Clegg
- Earth Spirit as Schigolch
1922
- Nosferatu as Knock
- Lucrezia Borgia as ein Gefangener
1921
- Camera obscura
- Danton as Minor Role (rumored)