Alexander Granach
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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.
Photos
Movies (49)
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
2025 · Knock - ein Häusermakler
Nosferatu: The First Vampire
1998 · Knock
My Buddy
1944 · Tim Oberta
The Seventh Cross
1944 · Zillich
The Hitler Gang
1944 · Julius Streicher
Voice in the Wind
1944 · Angelo
Three Russian Girls
1943 · Major Braginski
For Whom the Bell Tolls
1943 · Paco
Mission to Moscow
1943 · Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
Hangmen Also Die!
1943 · Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
Wrecking Crew
1942 · Joe Poska
Northwest Rangers
1942 · Pierre - Man in Casino
Half Way to Shanghai
1942 · Mr. Nikolas
Joan of Paris
1942 · Gestapo Agent
A Man Betrayed
1941 · T. Amato
So Ends Our Night
1941 · The Pole
Foreign Correspondent
1940 · Hotel Valet (uncredited)
Ninotchka
1939 · Comrade Kopalski
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1939 · Soldier (uncredited)
The Struggle
1936 · Rovelli (uncredited)
Gypsies
1936 · Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader
A Man's a Man
1931
Comradeship
1931 · Kasper
The Theft of the Mona Lisa
1931 · Redner
Danton
1931 · Marat
1914: The Last Days Before the War
1931 · Jaurès' Friend
The Twelfth Hour
1930 · Karsten (Archive footage)
Das letzte Fort
1929 · Gestino
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion
1929 · Beppo, Legionär
Pavement Butterfly
1929 · Coco
The Adjutant of the Czar
1929 · Stranger
Freie Fahrt
1928
Accident
1928
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland
1928 · Pollaczek
Die berühmte Frau
1927 · Diener bei Alfredo
Svengali
1927 · Geiger Gecko
Qualen der Nacht
1926 · Murphy
Die Radio Heirat
1924
I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity
1923 · Judas Ischariot
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant
1923 · Archivar Lindhorst
Warning Shadows
1923 · Shadowplayer
Man by the Roadside
1923 · Shoemaker
Navarro the Dancer
1923 · Clegg
Paganini
1923 · Ferucchio
Earth Spirit
1923 · Schigolch
Lucrezia Borgia
1922 · ein Gefangener
Nosferatu
1922 · Knock
Danton
1921 · Minor Role (rumored)
Camera obscura
1921
TV shows (0)
No credits available.