John Gottowt

Biography

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.

Known For

Nosferatu

Professor Bulwer

Nosferatu: The First Vampire

Professor Bulwer - ein Paracelsianer

The Student of Prague

Scapinelli - An Old Adventurer

Waxworks

Owner of the Waxworks

The Living Dead

Beamter des Mechanischen Museums

Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire

Guyard

Das schwarze Los

The Flight in the Night

Bediensteter

Filmography

• Movies
• TV Shows