Person
Alexander Granach
Werbowitz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Verbivtsi, Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Granach (April 18, 1890 – March 14, 1945) was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s who immigrated to the United States in…
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Granach (April 18, 1890 – March 14, 1945) was a popular German actor in the 1920s and 1930s who immigrated to the United States in 1938. Granach was born Jessaja Gronach in Werbowitz (Wierzbowce/Werbiwci) (Horodenka district, Austrian Galicia then, now Verbivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine), to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at the Volksbühne in Berlin. Granach entered films in 1922; among the most widely exhibited of his silent efforts was the vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), in which the actor was cast as Knock, the lunatic counterpart to Renfield, effectively a substitute name for Dracula. He co-starred in such major early German talkies as Kameradschaft (1931). The Jewish Granach fled to the Soviet Union when Hitler came to power. When the Soviet Union also proved inhospitable, he settled in Hollywood, where he made his first American film appearance as Kopalski in Ernst Lubitsch's Ninotchka (1939) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Granach proved indispensable to film makers during the war years, effectively portraying both dedicated Nazis (he was Julius Streicher in The Hitler Gang, 1944) and loyal anti-fascists. Perhaps his best role was as Gestapo Inspector Alois Gruber in Fritz Lang's Hangmen Also Die! (1943). His last film appearance was in MGM's The Seventh Cross (1944), in which almost the entire supporting cast was prominent European refugees.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2025
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
Movie Knock - ein Häusermakler
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1944
My Buddy
Movie Tim Oberta
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1944
The Seventh Cross
Movie Zillich
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1944
The Hitler Gang
Movie Julius Streicher
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1944
Voice in the Wind
Movie Angelo
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1943
Three Russian Girls
Movie Major Braginski
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1943
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Movie Paco
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1943
Mission to Moscow
Movie Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
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1943
Hangmen Also Die!
Movie Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
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1942
Wrecking Crew
Movie Joe Poska
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1942
Northwest Rangers
Movie Pierre - Man in Casino
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1942
Half Way to Shanghai
Movie Mr. Nikolas
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1942
Joan of Paris
Movie Gestapo Agent
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1941
A Man Betrayed
Movie T. Amato
-
1941
So Ends Our Night
Movie The Pole
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1940
Foreign Correspondent
Movie Hotel Valet (uncredited)
More credits
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1939
Ninotchka
Movie Comrade Kopalski
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1939
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Movie Soldier (uncredited)
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1936
The Struggle
Movie Rovelli (uncredited)
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1936
Gypsies
Movie Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader
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1931
A Man's a Man
Movie
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1931
Comradeship
Movie Kasper
-
1931
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
Movie Redner
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1931
Danton
Movie Marat
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1931
1914: The Last Days Before the War
Movie Jaurès' Friend
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1930
The Twelfth Hour
Movie Karsten (Archive footage)
-
1929
Das letzte Fort
Movie Gestino
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1929
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion
Movie Beppo, Legionär
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1929
Pavement Butterfly
Movie Coco
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1929
The Adjutant of the Czar
Movie Stranger
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1928
Freie Fahrt
Movie
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1928
Accident
Movie
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1928
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland
Movie Pollaczek
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1927
Die berühmte Frau
Movie Diener bei Alfredo
-
1927
Svengali
Movie Geiger Gecko
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1926
Qualen der Nacht
Movie Murphy
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1924
Die Radio Heirat
Movie
-
1923
I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity
Movie Judas Ischariot
-
1923
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant
Movie Archivar Lindhorst
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1923
Warning Shadows
Movie Shadowplayer
