Person
John Gottowt
Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]
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 Lembe…
IMDbKnown for
Popular titles
Biography
A closer look
Read full 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.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2025
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
Movie Professor Bulwer - ein Paracelsianer
-
1932
The Living Dead
Movie Beamter des Mechanischen Museums
-
1930
The Twelfth Hour
Movie Sanitarium Doctor (Archive footage)
-
1926
The Flight in the Night
Movie Bediensteter
-
1924
Waxworks
Movie Owner of the Waxworks
-
1922
Der schwarze Stern
Movie
-
1922
Nosferatu
Movie Professor Bulwer
-
1921
Parisian Women
Movie Aristide
-
1921
Brennendes Land
Movie Wladislaus
-
1920
The Night of Queen Isabeau
Movie Buckliger Narr
-
1920
Algol: Tragedy of Power
Movie Algol
-
1920
Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire
Movie Guyard
-
1920
The Hunchback and the Dancer
Movie James Wilton
-
1920
Der rote Henker
Movie L'Angely
- 1919
-
1919
Morphium
Movie
More credits
-
1917
Die Prinzessin von Neutralien
Movie The billionaire Vandergold
-
1913
Das schwarze Los
Movie Brighella
-
1913
The Student of Prague
Movie Scapinelli - An Old Adventurer
