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John Gottowt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Gottowt
John Gottowt c. 1918
Born
Isidor Gesang

(1881-06-15)15 June 1881
Died29 August 1942(1942-08-29) (aged 61)
OccupationActor
Years active19131933

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.[1]

List of films

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John Gottowt as Professor Bulwer in Nosferatu (1922)

References

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  1. ^ Schönker, Heinrich (2008). Ich war acht und wollte leben (in German). Düsseldorf: Patmos Verlag GmbH + Co.K. pp. 96–102. ISBN 978-3-491-35023-6.

Further reading

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  • Pioniere in Celluloid, Juden in den frühen Filmwelt, Stratenwerth, Simon (Hg), Henschel Verlag, Berlin, 2004, www.henschel-verlag.de
  • KARTA 42 – 2004, Fundacja Ośrodka KARTA, 02-536 Warszawa, www.karta.org.pl
  • Dotknięcie anioła (The Kiss of an Angel), Henryk Schönker, 2005, Ośrodek KARTA, 02-536 Warszawa, www.karta.org.pl
  • Ich war acht und wollte leben, Heinrich Schönker, 2008, Patmos Verlag
  • Archives of British Film Institute, London
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