Alexander Granach

Alexander Granach

Born: April 18, 1890
Died: March 14, 1945
in Werbowitz, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Verbivtsi, Kolomyia Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine]
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.

Movies for Alexander Granach...

Nosferatu: The First Vampire
Title: Nosferatu: The First Vampire
Character: Knock - ein Häusermakler
Released: March 15, 1998
Type: Movie
The horror classic, Nosferatu, remastered with a soundtrack by Type-O Negative and hosted by David Carradine.
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My Buddy
Title: My Buddy
Character: Tim Oberta
Released: October 12, 1944
Type: Movie
A priest relates the tale of his friend, a WWI veteran, to the Post-War Planning Committee. Unable to get a job upon his return from the war, he puts off his marriage and works for a bootlegger. He is forced to take a rap for his boss, goes to prison, and forms a gang.
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The Seventh Cross
Title: The Seventh Cross
Character: Zillich
Released: July 24, 1944
Type: Movie
In Nazi Germany in 1936 seven men escape from a concentration camp. The camp commander puts up seven crosses and, as the Gestapo returns each escapee he is put to death on a cross. The seventh cross is still empty as George Heisler seeks freedom in Holland.
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Voice in the Wind
Title: Voice in the Wind
Character: Angelo
Released: March 3, 1944
Type: Movie
Former concert pianist, victim of Nazi torture, pursues a confused, melancholic existence on the island of Guadalupe.
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Three Russian Girls
Title: Three Russian Girls
Character: Major Braginski
Released: December 30, 1943
Type: Movie
Another of a wartime cycle of Hollywood films lauding the praises of America's Soviet allies, Three Russian Girls is a remake of Russia's The Girl From Stalingrad. Set just after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the film stars Anna Sten as Natasha, a Red Cross volunteer who is dispatched to a field hospital located in an old pre-revolution mansion. American test pilot John Hill (Kent Smith), who'd been in Russia on a goodwill mission, is wounded in battle and brought to the hospital. As he slowly recovers from his wounds, Hill falls in love with Natasha. A last-act crisis develops when the hospital personnel are forced to move immediately to Leningrad as the Nazis advance.
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
Title: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Character: Paco
Released: July 12, 1943
Type: Movie
Spain in the 1930s is the place to be for a man of action like Robert Jordan. There is a civil war going on and Jordan—who has joined up on the side that appeals most to idealists of that era—has been given a high-risk assignment up in the mountains. He awaits the right time to blow up a crucial bridge in order to halt the enemy's progress.
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Mission to Moscow
Title: Mission to Moscow
Character: Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
Released: April 29, 1943
Type: Movie
Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to America as an advocate of Stalinism.
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Hangmen Also Die!
Title: Hangmen Also Die!
Character: Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
Released: April 15, 1943
Type: Movie
During the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia, surgeon Dr. Franticek Svoboda, a Czech patriot, assassinates the brutal "Hangman of Europe", Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich, and is wounded in the process. In his attempt to escape, he is helped by history professor Stephen Novotny and his daughter Mascha.
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Wrecking Crew
Title: Wrecking Crew
Character: Joe Poska
Released: November 7, 1942
Type: Movie
Follows a crew as they work under a deadline set by their boss to complete the demolition of a building. Touches on the lives of several of the crew in their lives away from the job and shows rhe comraderie of the crew in their work and even away from work.
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Northwest Rangers
Title: Northwest Rangers
Character: Pierre - Man in Casino
Released: October 28, 1942
Type: Movie
Boyhood friends grow up into different professions: one a dedicated Canadian Mountie, the other a notorious gambler.
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Half Way to Shanghai
Title: Half Way to Shanghai
Character: Mr. Nikolas
Released: September 18, 1942
Type: Movie
A murder occurs on a train bound for Shanghai during World War II.
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Joan of Paris
Title: Joan of Paris
Character: Gestapo Agent
Released: January 20, 1942
Type: Movie
An RAF squadron is brought down over occupied France. The flyers get to Paris in spite of the fact that the youngest, Baby, is injured. He must be hidden and his wounds cared for. The Gestapo has already issued orders for their arrest.
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A Man Betrayed
Title: A Man Betrayed
Character: T. Amato
Released: March 7, 1941
Type: Movie
Bucolic lawyer John Wayne takes on big-city corruption in A Man Betrayed. He sets out to prove that an above-suspicion politician (Edward Ellis) is actually a crook. The price of integrity is sweet in this instance, since Wayne happens to be in love with the politician's daughter (Frances Dee).
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So Ends Our Night
Title: So Ends Our Night
Character: The Pole
Released: February 27, 1941
Type: Movie
An anti-Nazi on the run and a young Jewish couple race across Europe trying to escape Hitler's ever powerful influence.
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Foreign Correspondent
Title: Foreign Correspondent
Character: Hotel Valet (uncredited)
Released: August 16, 1940
Type: Movie
American crime reporter John Jones is reassigned to Europe as a foreign correspondent to cover the imminent war. When he walks into the middle of an assassination and stumbles on a spy ring, he seeks help from a beautiful politician’s daughter and an urbane English journalist to uncover the truth.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Title: The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Character: Soldier (uncredited)
Released: December 29, 1939
Type: Movie
Paris, France, 1482. Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, gets infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a young Romani girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protege and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he is involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the devil's work.
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Ninotchka
Title: Ninotchka
Character: Comrade Kopalski
Released: November 23, 1939
Type: Movie
A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.
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Der Kampf
Title: Der Kampf
Character: Rovelli
Released: September 10, 1936
Type: Movie
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Gypsies
Title: Gypsies
Character: Danilo
Released: July 29, 1936
Type: Movie
A Soviet agent tries to win over a band of gypsies to a happy life on a farm co-op.
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A Man's a Man
Title: A Man's a Man
Released: December 31, 1931
Type: Movie
About a civilian who is press-ganged into a machine-gunner's squadron and transformed into the perfect soldier.
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Comradeship
Title: Comradeship
Character: Kasper
Released: November 17, 1931
Type: Movie
The picture tells of a mine disaster where German miners rescue French miners from an undergound fire and explosion. The story takes place in the Lorraine/Saar region, along the border between France and Germany.
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The Theft of the Mona Lisa
Title: The Theft of the Mona Lisa
Character: Redner
Released: August 24, 1931
Type: Movie
This German crime drama was based on a true story. Willy Forst stars as a poverty-stricken Italian glazier who falls in love with French hotel maid Rosa Valletti. Struck by the girl's resemblance to Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Forst manages to steal the painting from the Louvre in hopes of impressing his sweetheart. But when the girl proves to be a fickle sort, the crestfallen hero confesses his crime and is carted off to jail. Unwilling to admit that he'd been led astray by a woman, Forst claims that he stole the Mona Lisa to restore it to his native Italy, and as a result is hailed as a national hero! Raub der Mona Lisa was distributed in the U.S. by RKO Radio, under the title The Theft of the Mona Lisa.
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Danton
Title: Danton
Character: Marat
Released: January 21, 1931
Type: Movie
This pre-WW II German costume drama chronicles the French Revolution with a particular focus upon Danton, Robespierre, and Marat. It depicts the dramatic downfall and execution of Georges Danton in 1794 at the hands of Maximilien Robespierre. The film also presents an interesting, if not historically inaccurate, portrayal of Louis XVI.
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1914
Title: 1914
Character: Jaurès' Friend
Released: January 20, 1931
Type: Movie
The film focuses on the leadership of the Great Powers of Europe in the days leading up to the outbreak of the First World War.
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The Twelfth Hour
Title: The Twelfth Hour
Character: Karsten
Released: May 16, 1930
Type: Movie
A version of Nosferatu to which sound was added. Some scenes were left out and new ones were added including a different ending. Additionally all the characters names were changed.
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Das letzte Fort
Title: Das letzte Fort
Character: Gestino
Released: July 8, 1929
Type: Movie
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Flucht in die Fremdenlegion
Title: Flucht in die Fremdenlegion
Character: Beppo, Legionär
Released: June 29, 1929
Type: Movie
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Pavement Butterfly
Title: Pavement Butterfly
Character: Coco
Released: April 9, 1929
Type: Movie
In this, her second silent film with Eichberg, Wong plays Princess Butterfly, an exotic Parisian fan dancer whose “death leap through a circle of naked swords” act goes tragically wrong. Blamed for the impalement of a fellow performer, she runs away and takes shelter with a handsome but starving painter who she brings luck.
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The Adjutant of the Czar
Title: The Adjutant of the Czar
Character: Stranger
Released: February 12, 1929
Type: Movie
Drama of plot and intrigue in Imperial Russia.
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Freie Fahrt
Title: Freie Fahrt
Released: December 7, 1928
Type: Movie
The struggels of the German proletariat over the course of several centuries. Propaganda film by the Social Democratic Party.
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Accident
Title: Accident
Released: November 6, 1928
Type: Movie
A tense vignette about the fate of an unlucky man in poverty-stricken Weimar-era Germany.
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Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland
Title: Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland
Character: Pollaczek
Released: January 19, 1928
Type: Movie
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Die berühmte Frau
Title: Die berühmte Frau
Character: Diener bei Alfredo
Released: October 29, 1927
Type: Movie
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Svengali
Title: Svengali
Character: Geiger Gecko
Released: September 6, 1927
Type: Movie
The hypnotist Svengali makes an artist's model sing, but cannot force her love.
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Qualen der Nacht
Title: Qualen der Nacht
Character: Murphy
Released: April 23, 1926
Type: Movie
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Die Radio Heirat
Title: Die Radio Heirat
Released: March 5, 1924
Type: Movie
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I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity
Title: I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity
Character: Judas Ischariot
Released: December 24, 1923
Type: Movie
From the director of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, this is the Passion embedded in a contemporary story. An anarchist jailed for an attempted assassination is told the Passion story by the prison chaplain.
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Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant
Title: Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant
Character: Archivar Lindhorst
Released: November 1, 1923
Type: Movie
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Warning Shadows
Title: Warning Shadows
Character: Shadowplayer
Released: October 16, 1923
Type: Movie
During a dinner given by a wealthy baron and his wife, attended by four of her suitors in a 19th century German manor, a shadow-player rescues the marriage by giving all the guests a vision what might happen tonight if the baron stays jealous and the suitors do not reduce their advances towards his beautiful wife. Or was it a vision?
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Man by the Roadside
Title: Man by the Roadside
Character: Shoemaker
Released: June 11, 1923
Type: Movie
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Navarro the Dancer
Title: Navarro the Dancer
Character: Clegg
Released: April 2, 1923
Type: Movie
The dancer Navarro has lost her husband and son. With her daughter at her side, she returns to her homeland and comes under suspicion of spying when she gets into a relationship with a business friend of her deceased husband. This film is considered lost.
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Paganini
Title: Paganini
Character: Ferucchio
Released: March 31, 1923
Type: Movie
Historical film about Italian musician Niccolo Paganini.
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Earth Spirit
Title: Earth Spirit
Character: Schigolch
Released: February 22, 1923
Type: Movie
When the old, wealthy Doctor Schön takes Lulu under his wing, he has no idea that she will be his certain death. Young and beautiful, Lulu is endowed with tremendous erotic charisma that utterly enchants any man in her reach. Although Schön sees disaster approaching, he cannot let go of her. (Stumfilm.dk)
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Lucrezia Borgia
Title: Lucrezia Borgia
Character: ein Gefangener
Released: October 20, 1922
Type: Movie
Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI, has three adult children: Juan, who is virtuous and has a sweetheart who is a woman of the people, Lucrezia, who is virtuous and wants to marry Alfonso, and Cesare, who is wicked and lusts after Lucrezia, Juan's girlfriend, and probably others. Cesare has vowed to kill any suitor for Lucrezia's love, and he has three thugs to carry out his wishes. Bodies fall into the Tiber, into the Colosseum (with lions prowling), and onto the Vatican floors.
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Nosferatu
Title: Nosferatu
Character: Knock
Released: February 16, 1922
Type: Movie
In this highly influential silent horror film, the mysterious Count Orlok (Max Schreck) summons Thomas Hutter (Gustav von Wangenheim) to his remote Transylvanian castle in the mountains. The eerie Orlok seeks to buy a house near Hutter and his wife, Ellen (Greta Schroeder). After Orlok reveals his vampire nature, Hutter struggles to escape the castle, knowing that Ellen is in grave danger. Meanwhile Orlok's servant, Knock (Alexander Granach), prepares for his master to arrive at his new home.
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Camera obscura
Title: Camera obscura
Released: April 23, 1921
Type: Movie