John Gottowt
Actor
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.
As Director
Filmography
Nosferatu
as Professor Bulwer 1922
The Student of Prague
as Scapinelli - An Old Adventurer 1913
Waxworks
as Owner of the Waxworks 1924
Genuine: The Tragedy of a Vampire
as Guyard 1920
Algol: Tragedy of Power
as Algol 1920
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
as Professor Bulwer - ein Paracelsianer 2025
The Living Dead
as Beamter des Mechanischen Museums 1932
Morphium
1919
The Flight in the Night
as Bediensteter 1926
Der schwarze Stern
1922
Brennendes Land
as Wladislaus 1921
The Night of Queen Isabeau
as Buckliger Narr 1920
Der rote Henker
as L'Angely 1920
The Twelfth Hour
as Sanitarium Doctor 1930
Peer Gynt - 1. Teil: Peer Gynts Jugend
1919
Das schwarze Los
as Brighella 1913
The Hunchback and the Dancer
as James Wilton 1920