
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

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
as Soldier (uncredited)

Foreign Correspondent (1940)
as Hotel Valet (uncredited)

Ninotchka (1939)
as Comrade Kopalski

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
as Paco

The Seventh Cross (1944)
as Zillich

Accident (1928)
Actor

Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
as Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber

Die berühmte Frau (1927)
as Diener bei Alfredo

Camera obscura (1921)
Actor

Danton (1921)
as Minor Role (rumored)

Paganini (1923)
as Ferucchio

Mission to Moscow (1943)
as Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)

So Ends Our Night (1941)
as The Pole

Northwest Rangers (1942)
as Pierre - Man in Casino

Svengali (1927)
as Geiger Gecko

Three Russian Girls (1943)
as Major Braginski

A Man Betrayed (1941)
as T. Amato

Comradeship (1931)
as Kasper

1914: The Last Days Before the War (1931)
as Jaurès' Friend

The Hitler Gang (1944)
as Julius Streicher

Warning Shadows (1923)
as Shadowplayer

Joan of Paris (1942)
as Gestapo Agent

Half Way to Shanghai (1942)
as Mr. Nikolas

Pavement Butterfly (1929)
as Coco
Qualen der Nacht (1926)
as Murphy
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland (1928)
as Pollaczek

Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2025)
as Knock - ein Häusermakler

Voice in the Wind (1944)
as Angelo

I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity (1923)
as Judas Ischariot

My Buddy (1944)
as Tim Oberta

Lucrezia Borgia (1922)
as ein Gefangener
Die Radio Heirat (1924)
Actor

Earth Spirit (1923)
as Schigolch

The Theft of the Mona Lisa (1931)
as Redner

A Man's a Man (1931)
Actor

Man by the Roadside (1923)
as Shoemaker

Danton (1931)
as Marat
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion (1929)
as Beppo, Legionär

Navarro the Dancer (1923)
as Clegg

Das letzte Fort (1929)
as Gestino

Wrecking Crew (1942)
as Joe Poska

Gypsies (1936)
as Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader

The Twelfth Hour (1930)
as Karsten (Archive footage)
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant (1923)
as Archivar Lindhorst
Freie Fahrt (1928)
Actor

The Adjutant of the Czar (1929)
as Stranger

The Struggle (1936)
as Rovelli (uncredited)





