John Gottowt
John Gottowt was an Austrian actor, stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies.
Gottowt was born in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary 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 . 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 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.
Der Student von Prag, as ScapinelliDas schwarze Los / Pierrots letztes Abenteuer, as BrighellaDie büßende Magdalena Satan Opium The Princess of Neutralia, as Joe Vandergolt, billionairePeer Gynt. 1. Peer Gynts Jugend, as DovregubbenPeer Gynt 2. Wanderjahre und Tod, as DovregubbenMorphium Der rote Henker, as L'Angely, court jesterThe Forbidden Way, as LucasGenuine, as Guyard, barberThe Night of Queen Isabeau, as humpbacked court jesterDer Bucklige und die Tänzerin, as James WiltonNiemand weiß es - ScreenwriterAlgol, as alien from the planet AlgolDie tote Stunde Parisian Women, as AristideBurning Country, as WladislausSusanne Stranzky Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, as Professor Bulwer The Black Star Elixiere des Teufels The False Dimitri, as Ivan's court jesterThe Money Devil, as BlackWaxworks, as the wax museum's ownerMenschenopfer Should We Be Silent?, as the doctor's assistantThe Flight in the Night, as a servantPrinz Louis Ferdinand, as newspaper editorUnheimliche Geschichten, as official of the mechanic museum