death_place death_date birth_place birth_date yearsactive article_title name occupation
wieliczka , poland 29 august 1942 lemberg , austria-hungary 15 june 1881 1913 -- 1933 john gottowt
 john gottowt actor
john gottowt

john gottowt -lrb- 15 june 1881 -- 29 august 1942 -rrb- was a german actor , stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies .
he was born as isidor gesang in lemberg , austria-hungary .
after his education in vienna , he joined the deutsches theater in berlin in 1905 , working for max reinhardt as an actor and director .
gottowt was mainly active in different theatres in berlin as a character actor and director .
his first silent film appearance was in paul wegener 's `` der student von prag '' -lrb- `` the student of prague '' -rrb- -lrb- 1913 -rrb- .
in 1920 he appeared in robert wiene 's `` genuine '' and took the main role in the early science fiction film `` algol '' -lrb- `` algol : tragedy of power '' -rrb- .
in 1921 he played professor bulwer -lrb- abraham van helsing -rrb- in the classic silent film `` nosferatu '' directed by f.w. murnau .
gottowt made also several films with his brother-in-law henrik galeen but , as a jew , was banned in 1933 from working as a professional actor .
after a few years in denmark he moved to kraków in poland .
he was murdered in 1942 by the ss in wieliczka .
