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.

Movies with John Gottowt

• Nosferatu 1922 · ★ 7.7
• The Student of Prague 1913 · ★ 6.1
• Waxworks 1924 · ★ 6.4
• Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire 1920 · ★ 5.5
• Algol: Tragedy of Power 1920 · ★ 6.5
• The Living Dead 1932 · ★ 6.6
• Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror 2025 · ★ 6.4
• Morphium 1919 · ★ 9.0
• The Flight in the Night 1926 · ★ 0.0
• The Night of Queen Isabeau 1920 · ★ 8.0
• Das schwarze Los 1913 · ★ 10.0
• The Hunchback and the Dancer 1920 · ★ 7.0
• Die Prinzessin von Neutralien 1917 · ★ 8.0
• Parisian Women 1921 · ★ 10.0
• The Black Star 1922
• Brennendes Land 1921
• Der rote Henker 1920
• The Twelfth Hour 1930
• Peer Gynt - Part 1: Peer Gynt’s Youth 1919

Movies directed by John Gottowt

• Das schwarze Los 1913 · ★ 10.0