About

Known credits:
19
Birthday:
1881-06-15
Place of birth:
Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]
Website:
N/A

John Gottowt

Overview

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.

Known for

Acting
1998 Nosferatu: The First Vampire Actor Professor Bulwer - ein Paracelsianer 58
Average
1932 The Living Dead Actor Beamter des Mechanischen Museums 59
Average
1930 The Twelfth Hour Actor Sanitarium Doctor N/A
N/A
1926 The Flight in the Night Actor Bediensteter N/A
N/A
1924 Waxworks Actor Owner of the Waxworks 59
Average
1922 Der schwarze Stern Actor N/A
N/A
1922 Nosferatu Actor Professor Bulwer 73
Good
1921 Brennendes Land Actor Wladislaus N/A
N/A
1920 The Night of Queen Isabeau Actor Buckliger Narr N/A
N/A
1920 Algol: Tragedy of Power Actor Algol 58
Average
1920 Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire Actor Guyard 58
Average
1920 The Hunchback and the Dancer Actor James Wilton N/A
N/A
1920 Der rote Henker Actor L'Angely N/A
N/A
1919 Peer Gynt - 1. Teil: Peer Gynts Jugend Actor N/A
N/A
1919 Morphium Actor N/A
N/A
1917 Die Prinzessin von Neutralien Actor The billionaire Vandergold N/A
N/A
1913 Das schwarze Los Actor N/A
N/A
1913 The Student of Prague Actor Scapinelli - An Old Adventurer 58
Average

Directing
1913 Das schwarze Los Directing Director N/A
N/A