John Gottowt
Actor
- Born
- June 15, 1881 · Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]
- Died
- August 29, 1942 (age 61)
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.
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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
Nosferatu
February 16, 1922
The Student of Prague
August 11, 1913
Waxworks
November 13, 1924
Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire
September 2, 1920
Algol: Tragedy of Power
September 3, 1920
The Living Dead
September 6, 1932
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
October 2, 2025
Morphium
January 1, 1919
The Flight in the Night
December 13, 1926
Das schwarze Los
October 20, 1913
The Hunchback and the Dancer
July 8, 1920
Die Prinzessin von Neutralien
June 1, 1917
Acting19
- 2025Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror as Professor Bulwer - ein Paracelsianer
- 1932The Living Dead as Beamter des Mechanischen Museums
- 1930The Twelfth Hour as Sanitarium Doctor (Archive footage)
- 1926The Flight in the Night as Bediensteter
- 1924Waxworks as Owner of the Waxworks
- 1922The Black Star
- 1922Nosferatu as Professor Bulwer
- 1921Parisian Women as Aristide
- 1921Brennendes Land as Wladislaus
- 1920The Night of Queen Isabeau