Biography

John Gottowt was born on June 15, 1881 in Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]. He was an actor and writer, known for Nosferatu (1922), Das schwarze Los (1913) and The Student of Prague (1913). He died on August 27, 1942 in Wieliczka, Malopolskie, Poland.

He was murdered in 1942 by an SS officer while in hiding in Wieliczka, disguised as a Roman Catholic priest.

John Gottowt was an Austrian actor, stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies.

His first silent film appearance was in Paul Wegener's Der Student von Prag ("The Student of Prague") (1913).

After his education in Vienna, he joined the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in 1905, working for Max Reinhardt as an actor and director.

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.