Alexander Granach
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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.
Known for
Credits
Nosferatu (1922)
as Knock
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
as Soldier (uncredited)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
as Hotel Valet (uncredited)
Ninotchka (1939)
as Comrade Kopalski
Accident (1928)
Actor
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
as Paco
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
as Gestapo Insp. Alois Gruber
Camera obscura (1921)
Actor
Danton (1921)
as Minor Role (rumored)
Svengali (1927)
as Geiger Gecko
The Seventh Cross (1944)
as Zillich
Three Russian Girls (1943)
as Major Braginski
Die berühmte Frau (1927)
as Diener bei Alfredo
Paganini (1923)
as Ferucchio
Mission to Moscow (1943)
as Russian Air Force Officer (uncredited)
A Man Betrayed (1941)
as T. Amato
Ich hatte einst ein schönes Vaterland (1928)
as Pollaczek
Comradeship (1931)
as Kasper
Navarro the Dancer (1923)
as Clegg
A Man's a Man (1931)
Actor
Die Radio Heirat (1924)
Actor
Joan of Paris (1942)
as Gestapo Agent
Warning Shadows (1923)
as Shadowplayer
Qualen der Nacht (1926)
as Murphy
1914: The Last Days Before the War (1931)
as Jaurès' Friend
The Adjutant of the Czar (1929)
as Stranger
Man by the Roadside (1923)
as Shoemaker
The Hitler Gang (1944)
as Julius Streicher
Flucht in die Fremdenlegion (1929)
as Beppo, Legionär
Northwest Rangers (1942)
as Pierre - Man in Casino
Half Way to Shanghai (1942)
as Mr. Nikolas
My Buddy (1944)
as Tim Oberta
So Ends Our Night (1941)
as The Pole
Radiohead X Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (2025)
as Knock - ein Häusermakler
Danton (1931)
as Marat
The Theft of the Mona Lisa (1931)
as Redner
I.N.R.I. – A Film of Humanity (1923)
as Judas Ischariot
Wrecking Crew (1942)
as Joe Poska
The Struggle (1936)
as Rovelli
Gypsies (1936)
as Danilo, rich gypsy camp leader
The Twelfth Hour (1930)
as Karsten (Archive footage)
Lucrezia Borgia (1922)
as ein Gefangener
Voice in the Wind (1944)
as Angelo
Ein Weib, ein Tier, ein Diamant (1923)
as Archivar Lindhorst
Earth Spirit (1923)
as Schigolch
Das letzte Fort (1929)
as Gestino
Pavement Butterfly (1929)
as Coco
Freie Fahrt (1928)
Actor