Walter Gotell


Walter Jack Gotell was a German-British actor. He was well known for his role as General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the Roger Moore era of the James Bond film series as well as having played the role of Morzeny, a supporting villain, in From Russia With Love. He also appeared as Gogol in the final part of The Living Daylights, Timothy Dalton's debut Bond film.

Early life

Gotell was born Walter Jacques Goettel in Bonn in 1924, to Jewish parents Margarete Wilhelmine and Jakob Goettel. He was raised mainly in Berlin. Due to rising antisemitism and the growing influence of Nazism, Gotell and his family immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938, and he was naturalised as a British citizen in 1948.
Gotell became interested in acting during secondary school, and he began acting in repertory theatre as a teenager.

Career

Due to a shortage of young actors during World War II, Gotell began working in films starting in 1942. His bilingualism saw him cast as Nazi German villains and military men, such as in We Dive at Dawn.
He began to have more established roles by the early 1950s, appearing in The African Queen, The Red Beret for Albert R. Broccoli, Ice Cold in Alex, The Guns of Navarone, The Road to Hong Kong, Lord Jim, Black Sunday, The Boys from Brazil and Cuba.
His first role in the James Bond film series was in 1963, when he played the henchman Morzeny in From Russia with Love. From the late 1970s, he played the recurring role of KGB General Anatol Gogol in the series, beginning with The Spy Who Loved Me. Gotell gained the role of Gogol because of his resemblance to the former head of Soviet secret police Lavrentiy Beria. The character returned in Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, and The Living Daylights. As the Cold War neared its end, the role of leader of the KGB was seen to change attitudes to the West – from direct competitor to collaborator. Gotell is one of a few actors to have played a villain and a Bond ally in the film series.
Throughout his career, Gotell also made numerous guest appearances in television series including Danger Man, Knight Rider, The A-Team, Airline, Airwolf, The X-Files, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Miami Vice, Cagney & Lacey and The Saint among others. He played Chief Constable Cullen in Softly, Softly: Task Force. Other television roles included that of Sam Baker, a KGB agent in the hard-hitting British police drama The Professionals – the episode titled "The Female Factor".

Personal life

Gotell was married to actress Yvonne Hills from 1958, until her death in 1974. They had one daughter, Carol, born in 1960. Gotell remarried, to Celeste F. Mitchell, in 1974.
Gotell was a businessman as well as an actor, and used his acting salaries to fund his business interests. He managed several engineering firms, and he owned a farm in Ireland.

Death

Gotell died from cancer on 5 May 1997, at the age of 73.

Filmography

Film

The Day Will Dawn as German Soldier The Goose Steps Out as SS Guard Secret Mission as Lieutenant Langfeld Tomorrow We Live as HansWe Dive at Dawn as Luftwaffe Captain Schweik's New Adventures as Captured resistance memberThe Night Invader Two Thousand Women as German Soldier No Orchids for Miss Blandish as Joe – Nightclub Doorman Cairo Road as Prison OfficerThe Wooden Horse as The FollowerLilli Marlene as Direktor of PropagandaThe Man Who Disappeared as LuzattoThe African Queen as the Second Officer of the Königin LuiseDesperate Moment as Ravitch's Servant-HenchmanThe Red Beret as German sentry Albert R.N. as FeldwebelStryker of the Yard Duel in the Jungle as JimAbove Us the Waves as German Officer on Tirpitz. Dial 999 as Policeman 1984 as Guard The Man Who Knew Too Much as Matthews, Scotland Yard Patrol Car Ice Cold in Alex as 1st German OfficerThe Man Inside as ProfunoI Was Monty's Double as German Colonel The Bandit of Zhobe as AzhadNo Safety Ahead The Treasure of San Teresa as Hamburg inspectorSink the Bismarck! as Signals Officer Miller on the Bismarck Circus of Horrors as Baron Von Gruber The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll as Heverton – Second Gambler A Circle of Deception as Phoney Jules Ballard The Guns of Navarone as Oberleutnant MueselThe Devil's Daffodil as Oberinspektor Whiteside / Supt. WhitesideRoad to Hong Kong as Dr. Zorbb The Devil's Agent as Dr. RitterThe Longest Day as German Officer 55 Days at Peking as Capt. HoffmanThese Are the Damned as Major HollandLancelot and Guinevere as CedricFrom Russia with Love as MorzenyLord Jim as Captain of PatnaThe Spy Who Came in From The Cold as Holten Attack on the Iron Coast as Van HorstCry Wolf The File of the Golden Goose as George LeedsOur Miss Fred as SchmidtEndless Night as ConstantineBlack Sunday as Colonel RiatThe Spy Who Loved Me as General Anatol GogolThe Assignment as FrankenheimerMarch or Die as Col. LamontThe Stud as Ben KhaledThe Boys from Brazil as MundtThe Word as HennigThe London Connection as SimmonsMoonraker as General Anatol GogolCuba as Don Jose PulidoFlygnivå 450 as Herbert AnchellFor Your Eyes Only as General Anatol GogolThe Scarlet and the Black as SS-Obergruppenführer Max Helm Octopussy as General Anatol GogolKalabaliken i Bender as StorvesirenMemed My Hawk as Sgt. AsimA View to a Kill as General Anatol GogolKGB: The Secret War as NicholaiBasic Training as NabokovThe Living Daylights as General Anatol GogolSleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers as Uncle JohnWings of Fame as ReceptionistPuppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge as General MüellerPrince Valiant as Erik the Old

Television

Sherlock Holmes – episode – "The Man Who Disappeared " as LuzattoThe Saint – episode – "The Hi-jackers" as Hans LasserWalt Disney's Wonderful World of Color – 3 episodes – as Benton / Simmons Sherlock Holmes – episode – "Wisteria Lodge" as HendersonThe Zoo Gang – episode – "Revenge: Post-Dated" as BoucherSoftly, Softly: Task Force – 55 episodes – as Chief Constable Arthur CullenHallelujah! as Lt. Colonel Henderson The Professionals, Series 1, episode 2 "The Female Factor" – as BakerScarecrow and Mrs. King – episode – "Service Above and Beyond" as Kurt HollanderAirwolf – episode – "Fight Like a Dove" as Oberst Helmut Krüger / Hans DaubertFantasy Island – episode – "Bojangles and the Dancer/Deuces Are Wild" as Edward C. Bass / Charles Childress The A-Team – episode – "Where Is the Monster When You Need Him?" as Ramon DeJarro

Other appearances

Inside 'From Russia with Love' – Video documentary short – Himself / Morzeny