Alexander Granach
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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.
Known for
Credits
Nosferatu (1922)
as Knock
Ninotchka (1939)
as Comrade Kopalski
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
as Soldier (uncredited)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
as Paco
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
as Hotel Valet (uncredited)
The Seventh Cross (1944)
as Zillich
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
as Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
Three Russian Girls (1943)
as Major Braginski
Mission to Moscow (1943)
as Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
Danton (1921)
as Minor Role (rumored)
Comradeship (1931)
as Kasper
Nosferatu: The First Vampire (1998)
as Knock
So Ends Our Night (1941)
as The Pole
Warning Shadows (1923)
as Shadowplayer
Lucrezia Borgia (1922)
as ein Gefangener
Pavement Butterfly (1929)
as Coco
The Hitler Gang (1944)
as Julius Streicher
Paganini (1923)
as Ferucchio
Joan of Paris (1942)
as Gestapo Agent
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland (1928)
as Pollaczek
Man by the Roadside (1923)
as Shoemaker
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2025)
as Knock - ein Häusermakler
The Theft of the Mona Lisa (1931)
as Redner
A Man Betrayed (1941)
as T. Amato
I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity (1923)
as Judas Ischariot
Half Way to Shanghai (1942)
as Mr. Nikolas
Northwest Rangers (1942)
as Pierre - Man in Casino
Die berühmte Frau (1927)
as Diener bei Alfredo
Camera obscura (1921)
Actor
The Adjutant of the Czar (1929)
as Stranger
Accident (1928)
Actor
Qualen der Nacht (1926)
as Murphy
Svengali (1927)
as Geiger Gecko
Voice in the Wind (1944)
as Angelo
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion (1929)
as Beppo, Legionär
Navarro the Dancer (1923)
as Clegg
My Buddy (1944)
as Tim Oberta
1914: The Last Days Before the War (1931)
as Jaurès' Friend
Die Radio Heirat (1924)
Actor
Wrecking Crew (1942)
as Joe Poska
Earth Spirit (1923)
as Schigolch
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant (1923)
as Archivar Lindhorst
Danton (1931)
as Marat
Gypsies (1936)
as Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader
Das letzte Fort (1929)
as Gestino
A Man's a Man (1931)
Actor
The Twelfth Hour (1930)
as Karsten (Archive footage)
The Struggle (1936)
as Rovelli (uncredited)
Freie Fahrt (1928)
Actor