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.
Personal Details
Also Known As
Movies (48)
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
as Knock - ein Häusermakler
2025
My Buddy
as Tim Oberta
1944
The Seventh Cross
as Zillich
1944
The Hitler Gang
as Julius Streicher
1944
Voice in the Wind
as Angelo
1944
Three Russian Girls
as Major Braginski
1943
For Whom the Bell Tolls
as Paco
1943
Mission to Moscow
as Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
1943
Hangmen Also Die!
as Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
1943
Wrecking Crew
as Joe Poska
1942
Northwest Rangers
as Pierre - Man in Casino
1942
Half Way to Shanghai
as Mr. Nikolas
1942
Joan of Paris
as Gestapo Agent
1942
A Man Betrayed
as T. Amato
1941
So Ends Our Night
as The Pole
1941
Foreign Correspondent
as Hotel Valet (uncredited)
1940
Ninotchka
as Comrade Kopalski
1939
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
as Soldier (uncredited)
1939
Der Kampf
as Rovelli
1936
Gypsies
as Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader
1936
A Man's a Man
1931
Comradeship
as Kasper
1931
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
as Redner
1931
Danton
as Marat
1931
1914: The Last Days Before the War
as Jaurès' Friend
1931
The Twelfth Hour
as Karsten
1930
Das letzte Fort
as Gestino
1929
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion
as Beppo, Legionär
1929
Pavement Butterfly
as Coco
1929
The Adjutant of the Czar
as Stranger
1929
Freie Fahrt
1928
Accident
1928
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland
as Pollaczek
1928
Die berühmte Frau
as Diener bei Alfredo
1927
Svengali
as Geiger Gecko
1927
Qualen der Nacht
as Murphy
1926
Die Radio Heirat
1924
I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity
as Judas Ischariot
1923
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant
as Archivar Lindhorst
1923
Warning Shadows
as Shadowplayer
1923
Man by the Roadside
as Shoemaker
1923
Navarro the Dancer
as Clegg
1923
Paganini
as Ferucchio
1923
Earth Spirit
as Schigolch
1923
Lucrezia Borgia
as ein Gefangener
1922
Nosferatu
as Knock
1922
Danton
as Minor Role (rumored)
1921
Camera obscura
1921