Georg John

Georg John (born Georg Jacobsohn; 23 July 1879 – 18 November 1941) was a German stage and film actor.
Early life
Georg Jacobsohn was born into a Jewish household in Schmiegel, Province of Posen, Imperial Germany.
Career
John began his career around 1900 in smaller stages and traveling theatres. In 1904, he was engaged at the Theater of Wilhelmshaven, followed by appearances at Stolp in 1905, Altona, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Bochum and Göttingen. In 1914, John worked as an actor and producer for Vaterländische Schauspiele in Vienna.
In 1917, John first appeared in silent movies, playing a Tibetan monk in Die Fremde (The Stranger), and Death in Hilde Warren und der Tod (Hilde Warren and Death). These roles were typical of the kinds of parts he would become known for, even if, at first, he was more often seen as a father, husband or dignitary. Beginning in the 1920s, John appeared in the films of notable German filmmakers, where he often played bizarre, gnome-like figures, such as the beggar in Fritz Lang's Der müde Tod (Tired Death, 1921, released in English as Destiny), and the blind balloon-seller who recognizes the murderer due to a whistled song in 1931's M. For F. W. Murnau he played a night-watchman in Der Letzte Mann (The Last Man, 1924, released in English as The Last Laugh).
Being a Jew, John was deported in autumn 1941 to the Łódź Ghetto where he died on 18 November 1941 at the age of 62.
Selected filmography
Ramara (1916)
Hilde Warren und der Tod (1917) – Tod
Die Fremde (1917)
Das Buch des Lasters (1917) – Bildhauer
Waves of Fate (1918)
Mr. Wu (1918) – Tschang-Ta
Verlorene Töchter (1918) – Manager Pichler
Veritas Vincit (1919) – Blinder Senator
Peer Gynt (1919, part 1, 2) – Prof. Dr. Begriffenfeldt
The Boy in Blue (1919) – Zigeunerhauptmann / Gypsy commander
The Spiders (1919–1920, part 1, 2) – Dr. Telphas
Unheimliche Geschichten (1919)
Harakiri (1919) – Buddhist Monk
Phantome des Lebens (1919)
Der Weg der Grete Lessen (1919, Short)
Dämon der Welt (1920, part 2, 3) – Fred Osring
Der Menschheit Anwalt (1920) – Hexenrichter Abdonatus / Hexenrichter Lucinder
Johann Baptiste Lingg (1920) – Gutsverwalter Wolleck
The Legend of Holy Simplicity (1920) – Blinder Bettler
Der König von Paris (1920, part 1, 2)
Humanity Unleashed (1920) – Fritz Breese
Schatten einer Stunde (1920)
Napoleon and the Little Washerwoman (1920)
Hearts are Trumps (1920) – Dunkler mann
Planetenschieber (1921)
Tobias Buntschuh – Das Drama eines Einsamen (1921) – Abgesandte des Stahltrusts
The Stranger from Alster Street (1921)
Die Geschichte von Barak Johnson (1921)
Der Silberkönig (1921, part 1-4)
Der müde Tod (1921) – Beggar / Bettler
The Riddle of the Sphinx (1921) – Mummy
Lady Hamilton (1921) – zwei Jacobiner
The Indian Tomb (1921, part 1, 2) – Büßer / a Penitent
Das Geheimnis der Santa Maria (1921)
Das Geheimnis der sechs Spielkarten (1921, part 4)
Die Geschichte des grauen Hauses 1 – Episode: Der Mord aus verschmähter Liebe (1921)
The Adventurer (1922) – der rote Johnny
Die Beute der Erinnyen (1922) – Tom Sprang
Der brennende Acker (1922) – Großknecht / Head farmhand
Dr. Mabuse, der Spieler (1922) – Pesch
She and the Three (1922) – Ehrenmann hinter schwedischen Gardinen
Prashna's Secret (1922) – Praschna, indischer Fakir
The Fall of Jerusalem (1922) – Egyptian Emmissary
Marie Antoinette, the Love of a King (1922) – Robespierre
The Fire Ship (1922)
The Stone Rider (1923) – Pförtner
A Woman, an Animal, a Diamond (1923) – Zirkusdirektor
The Lost Shoe (1923) – Jon
I Had a Comrade (1923) – Marodeur
The Good Comrade (1923) – Marodeur
Gold and Luck (1923) – Wucherer
Frauenschicksal (1924)
Die Nibelungen (1924) – Mime the blacksmith / Alberich the Nibelung / Slaodel, his brother
Decameron Nights (1924) – Astologer
My Leopold (1924) – Nibisch
Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (Waxworks) (1924) – Prisoner
The Last Laugh (1924) – Nachtwächter [Night Watchman]
Peter the Pirate (1925) – Beppo
Harry Hill's Deadly Hunt (1925, part 1, 2)
Guillotine (1925)
Express Train of Love (1925)
Slums of Berlin (1925) – Laundress's Husband
The Gentleman Without a Residence (1925) – Fürst
Varieté (1925) – Seeman
Bismarck (1925, part 1)
The Hanseatics (1925)
Adventure on the Night Express (1925) – Theewens Diener Raoul
The Fallen (1926) – Schampuspusorje
The Mill at Sanssouci (1926) – General Zieten
Des Königs Befehl (1926)
Eyes Open, Harry! (1926) – Nathan Miller
Das graue Haus (1926) – Der Henker
Hell of Love (1926) – Heinicke, Prokurist
The Flight in the Night (1926) – Bediensteter
Wenn Menschen irren. Frauen auf Irrwegen (1926)
Metropolis (1927) – Arbeiter / Working Man Who Causes Explosion of M-Machine (uncredited)
Erinnerungen einer Nonne (1927)
The Bordellos of Algiers (1927) – Portier
The Weavers (1927) – Ansorge
Frühere Verhältnisse (1927)
Gehetzte Frauen (1927)
The Curse of Vererbung (1927) – Portier
At the Edge of the World (1927)
Der Mann ohne Kopf (1927) – Der Schreckliche
Petronella – Das Geheimnis der Berge (1927) – Der alte Amros
Only a Viennese Woman Kisses Like That (1928) – Der Manager
Alraune (1928) – Der Mörder
Luther (1928) – Ein Krüppel
Panic (1928)
Spione (1928) – Locomotive Engineer (uncredited)
Man Against Man (1928) – Zamok
The Hangman (1928)
Volga Volga (1928)
Anastasia, die falsche Zarentochter (1928)
Somnambul (1929) – Der Wirt
Taxi at Midnight (1929) – Dritter Wachtmeister
Men Without Work (1929) – Odysseus – der 'Künstler
Andreas Hofer (1929) – Franz Raffl – ein Bauer
Atlantik (1929) – Wendt, Thomas' servant
The Woman Without Nerves (1930) – Sekretär
Fundvogel (1930) – Poacher
Rag Ball (1930)
The Land of Smiles (1930) – Tschang in der Operette
The Flute Concert of Sanssouci (1930) – Zieten
Danton (1931) – Ankläger
Stürmisch die Nacht (1931)
M (1931) – Blind Panhandler
The First Right of the Child (1932)
Death Over Shanghai (1932) – Lutsin – Praxas Diener
F.P.1 antwortet nicht (1932) – Maschinist
The Flower of Hawaii (1933) – Oberpriester von Hawaii
Jumping Into the Abyss (1933) – Fotograf
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933) – Baums Diener / Baum's Servant (final film role)
References
External links
Photos
1879 births
1941 deaths
People from Śmigiel
German Jews who died in the Holocaust
Jewish German male actors
German male film actors
German male silent film actors
German male stage actors
People from the Province of Posen
People who died in the Łódź Ghetto
German civilians killed in World War II
19th-century German male actors
20th-century German male actors