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 Hans
  • We Dive at Dawn as Luftwaffe Captain
  • Schweik's New Adventures as Captured resistance member
  • The Night Invader
  • Two Thousand Women as German Soldier
  • No Orchids for Miss Blandish as Joe – Nightclub Doorman
  • Cairo Road as Prison Officer
  • The Wooden Horse as The Follower
  • Lilli Marlene as Direktor of Propaganda
  • The Man Who Disappeared as Luzatto
  • The African Queen as the Second Officer of the Königin Luise
  • Desperate Moment as Ravitch's Servant-Henchman
  • The Red Beret as German sentry
  • Albert R.N. as Feldwebel
  • Stryker of the Yard
  • Duel in the Jungle as Jim
  • Above 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 Officer
  • The Man Inside as Profuno
  • I Was Monty's Double as German Colonel
  • The Bandit of Zhobe as Azhad
  • No Safety Ahead
  • The Treasure of San Teresa as Hamburg inspector
  • Sink 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 Muesel
  • The Devil's Daffodil as Oberinspektor Whiteside / Supt. Whiteside
  • Road to Hong Kong as Dr. Zorbb
  • The Devil's Agent as Dr. Ritter
  • The Longest Day as German Officer
  • 55 Days at Peking as Capt. Hoffman
  • These Are the Damned as Major Holland
  • Lancelot and Guinevere as Cedric
  • From Russia with Love as Morzeny
  • Lord Jim as Captain of Patna
  • The Spy Who Came in From The Cold as Holten
  • Attack on the Iron Coast as Van Horst
  • Cry Wolf
  • The File of the Golden Goose as George Leeds
  • Our Miss Fred as Schmidt
  • Endless Night as Constantine
  • Black Sunday as Colonel Riat
  • The Spy Who Loved Me as General Anatol Gogol
  • The Assignment as Frankenheimer
  • March or Die as Col. Lamont
  • The Stud as Ben Khaled
  • The Boys from Brazil as Mundt
  • The Word as Hennig
  • The London Connection as Simmons
  • Moonraker as General Anatol Gogol
  • Cuba as Don Jose Pulido
  • Flygnivå 450 as Herbert Anchell
  • For Your Eyes Only as General Anatol Gogol
  • The Scarlet and the Black as SS-Obergruppenführer Max Helm
  • Octopussy as General Anatol Gogol
  • Kalabaliken i Bender as Storvesiren
  • Memed My Hawk as Sgt. Asim
  • A View to a Kill as General Anatol Gogol
  • KGB: The Secret War as Nicholai
  • Basic Training as Nabokov
  • The Living Daylights as General Anatol Gogol
  • Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers as Uncle John
  • Wings of Fame as Receptionist
  • Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge as General Müeller
  • Prince Valiant as Erik the Old

    Television

  • Sherlock Holmes – episode – "The Man Who Disappeared " as Luzatto
  • The Saint – episode – "The Hi-jackers" as Hans Lasser
  • Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color – 3 episodes – as Benton / Simmons
  • Sherlock Holmes – episode – "Wisteria Lodge" as Henderson
  • The Zoo Gang – episode – "Revenge: Post-Dated" as Boucher
  • Softly, Softly: Task Force – 55 episodes – as Chief Constable Arthur Cullen
  • Hallelujah! as Lt. Colonel Henderson
  • The Professionals, Series 1, episode 2 "The Female Factor" – as Baker
  • Scarecrow and Mrs. King – episode – "Service Above and Beyond" as Kurt Hollander
  • Airwolf – episode – "Fight Like a Dove" as Oberst Helmut Krüger / Hans Daubert
  • Fantasy 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
  • Spenser for Hire – episode – "A Madness Most Discreet" as Max Claus
  • Knight Rider – episode – "Knight Sting" as Simon Carascas
  • MacGyver – episode – "GX-1" as Starkoss
  • Miami Vice – episode – "When Irish Eyes Are Crying" as Max Klizer
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation – episode – "Home Soil" as Kurt Mandl
  • MacGyver – episode – "Gold Rush" as General Barenov
  • The X-Files – episode – "Paper Clip" as Victor Klemper

    Other appearances

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