John Gottowt
Born: 1881-06-15 in Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]
Died: 1942-08-29
Known For: Acting
Biography
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.
Filmography
2025
- Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror as Professor Bulwer - ein Paracelsianer
1932
- The Living Dead as Beamter des Mechanischen Museums
1930
- The Twelfth Hour as Sanitarium Doctor
1926
- The Flight in the Night as Bediensteter
1924
- Waxworks as Owner of the Waxworks
1922
- Nosferatu as Professor Bulwer
- Der schwarze Stern
1921
- Brennendes Land as Wladislaus
1920
- The Hunchback and the Dancer as James Wilton
- Algol: Tragedy of Power as Algol
- Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire as Guyard
- The Night of Queen Isabeau as Buckliger Narr
- Der rote Henker as L'Angely
1917
- Die Prinzessin von Neutralien as The billionaire Vandergold
1913
- The Student of Prague as Scapinelli - An Old Adventurer
- Das schwarze Los as Brighella