About

Known credits:
47
Birthday:
1890-04-18
Place of birth:
Werbowitz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Verbivtsi, Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine]
Website:
N/A

Alexander Granach

Overview

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.

Known for

Acting
2024 Nosferatu Actor Knock (archive footage) N/A
N/A
1998 Nosferatu: The First Vampire Actor Knock - ein Häusermakler 58
Average
1944 My Buddy Actor Tim Oberta N/A
N/A
1944 The Seventh Cross Actor Zillich 59
Average
1944 Voice in the Wind Actor Angelo 58
Average
1943 Three Russian Girls Actor Major Braginski N/A
N/A
1943 For Whom the Bell Tolls Actor Paco 60
Fair
1943 Mission to Moscow Actor Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited) 58
Average
1943 Hangmen Also Die! Actor Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber 61
Fair
1942 Wrecking Crew Actor Joe Poska 58
Average
1942 Northwest Rangers Actor Pierre - Man in Casino 59
Average
1942 Half Way to Shanghai Actor Mr. Nikolas 58
Average
1942 Joan of Paris Actor Gestapo Agent 59
Average
1941 A Man Betrayed Actor T. Amato 58
Average
1941 So Ends Our Night Actor The Pole 58
Average
1940 Foreign Correspondent Actor Hotel Valet (uncredited) 63
Fair
1939 The Hunchback of Notre Dame Actor Soldier (uncredited) 62
Fair
1939 Ninotchka Actor Comrade Kopalski 65
Fair
1936 Der Kampf Actor Rovelli 58
Average
1936 Gypsies Actor Danilo N/A
N/A
1931 A Man's a Man Actor 59
Average
1931 Comradeship Actor Kasper 59
Average
1931 The Theft of the Mona Lisa Actor Redner 59
Average
1931 Danton Actor Marat 58
Average
1931 1914 Actor Jaurès' Friend N/A
N/A
1930 The Twelfth Hour Actor Karsten N/A
N/A
1929 Das letzte Fort Actor Gestino N/A
N/A
1929 Flucht in die Fremdenlegion Actor Beppo, Legionär N/A
N/A
1929 Pavement Butterfly Actor Coco 58
Average
1929 The Adjutant of the Czar Actor Stranger 59
Average
1928 Freie Fahrt Actor N/A
N/A
1928 Accident Actor 59
Average
1928 Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland Actor Pollaczek N/A
N/A
1927 Die berühmte Frau Actor Diener bei Alfredo N/A
N/A
1927 Svengali Actor Geiger Gecko N/A
N/A
1926 Qualen der Nacht Actor Murphy N/A
N/A
1924 Die Radio Heirat Actor N/A
N/A
1923 I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity Actor Judas Ischariot 58
Average
1923 Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant Actor Archivar Lindhorst N/A
N/A
1923 Warning Shadows Actor Shadowplayer 59
Average
1923 Man by the Roadside Actor Shoemaker N/A
N/A
1923 Navarro the Dancer Actor Clegg N/A
N/A
1923 Paganini Actor Ferucchio N/A
N/A
1923 Earth Spirit Actor Schigolch 58
Average
1922 Lucrezia Borgia Actor ein Gefangener 58
Average
1922 Nosferatu Actor Knock 73
Good
1921 Camera obscura Actor N/A
N/A