Alexander Granach

Alexander Granach

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

Born: Werbowitz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Verbivtsi, Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine], 1890-04-18

Died: 1945-03-14

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1921	Camera obscura		0
2	1922	Nosferatu	Knock	77
3	1922	Lucrezia Borgia	ein Gefangener	44
4	1923	Earth Spirit	Schigolch	55
5	1923	Paganini	Ferucchio	0
6	1923	Navarro the Dancer	Clegg	0
7	1923	Man by the Roadside	Shoemaker	0
8	1923	Warning Shadows	Shadowplayer	65
9	1923	Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant	Archivar Lindhorst	0
10	1923	I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity	Judas Ischariot	51
11	1924	Die Radio Heirat		0
12	1926	Qualen der Nacht	Murphy	0
13	1927	Svengali	Geiger Gecko	0
14	1927	Die berühmte Frau	Diener bei Alfredo	0
15	1928	Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland	Pollaczek	0
16	1928	Accident		67
17	1928	Freie Fahrt		0
18	1929	The Adjutant of the Czar	Stranger	78
19	1929	Pavement Butterfly	Coco	60
20	1929	Flucht in die Fremdenlegion	Beppo, Legionär	0
21	1929	Das letzte Fort	Gestino	0
22	1930	The Twelfth Hour	Karsten	0
23	1931	1914	Jaurès' Friend	50
24	1931	Danton	Marat	50
25	1931	The Theft of the Mona Lisa	Redner	53
26	1931	Comradeship	Kasper	71
27	1931	A Man's a Man		58
28	1936	Gypsies	Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader	0
29	1936	Der Kampf	Rovelli	50
30	1939	Ninotchka	Comrade Kopalski	75
31	1939	The Hunchback of Notre Dame	Soldier (uncredited)	73
32	1940	Foreign Correspondent	Hotel Valet (uncredited)	70
33	1941	So Ends Our Night	The Pole	62
34	1941	A Man Betrayed	T. Amato	54
35	1942	Joan of Paris	Gestapo Agent	65
36	1942	Half Way to Shanghai	Mr. Nikolas	0
37	1942	Northwest Rangers	Pierre - Man in Casino	60
38	1942	Wrecking Crew	Joe Poska	55
39	1943	Hangmen Also Die!	Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber	69
40	1943	Mission to Moscow	Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)	53
41	1943	For Whom the Bell Tolls	Paco	65
42	1943	Three Russian Girls	Major Braginski	60
43	1944	Voice in the Wind	Angelo	52
44	1944	The Hitler Gang	Julius Streicher	60
45	1944	The Seventh Cross	Zillich	67
46	1944	My Buddy	Tim Oberta	0
47	1998	Nosferatu: The First Vampire	Knock - ein Häusermakler	50

No.

Year

Title

Role

Vote Average

1921