
Alexander Granach
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1890-04-18
Day of Death
1945-03-14 (54 years old)
Place of Birth
Werbowitz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Verbivtsi, Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine]
Alexander Granach
Biography
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.
Known For
Acting
(1998)
Nosferatu: The First Vampire
as Knock - ein Häusermakler
(1944)
The Hitler Gang
as Julius Streicher
(1944)
The Seventh Cross
as Zillich
(1944)
My Buddy
as Tim Oberta
(1944)
Voice in the Wind
as Angelo
(1943)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
as Paco
(1943)
Hangmen Also Die!
as Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
(1943)
Mission to Moscow
as Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
(1943)
Three Russian Girls
as Major Braginski
(1942)
Joan of Paris
as Gestapo Agent
(1942)
Northwest Rangers
as Pierre - Man in Casino
(1942)
Half Way to Shanghai
as Mr. Nikolas
(1942)
Wrecking Crew
as Joe Poska
(1941)
So Ends Our Night
as The Pole
(1941)
A Man Betrayed
as T. Amato
(1940)
Foreign Correspondent
as Hotel Valet (uncredited)
(1939)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
as Soldier (uncredited)
(1939)
Ninotchka
as Comrade Kopalski
(1936)
Der Kampf
as Rovelli
(1936)
Gypsies
as Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader
(1931)
Comradeship
as Kasper
(1931)
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
as Redner
(1931)
1914
as Jaurès' Friend
(1931)
Danton
as Marat
(1931)
(1930)
The Twelfth Hour
as Karsten
(1929)
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion
as Beppo, Legionär
(1929)
Das letzte Fort
as Gestino
(1929)
Pavement Butterfly
as Coco
(1929)
The Adjutant of the Czar
as Stranger
(1928)
(1928)
(1928)
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland
as Pollaczek
(1927)
Svengali
as Geiger Gecko
(1927)
Die berühmte Frau
as Diener bei Alfredo
(1926)
Qualen der Nacht
as Murphy
(1924)
(1923)
Warning Shadows
as Shadowplayer
(1923)
Earth Spirit
as Schigolch
(1923)
Paganini
as Ferucchio
(1923)
I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity
as Judas Ischariot
(1923)
Man by the Roadside
as Shoemaker
(1923)
Navarro the Dancer
as Clegg
(1923)
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant
as Archivar Lindhorst
(1922)
Nosferatu
as Knock
(1922)
Lucrezia Borgia
as ein Gefangener
(1921)