- Alexander Granach
Alexander Granach (
April 18 ,1890 –March 14 ,1945 ) was a popular Germanactor in the 1920s and 1930s.He was born Jessaja Granach in "Wierzbowce" (or Werbiwci) (
Horodenka district, Austrian Galicia then, now "Verbovtsy",Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast ,Ukraine ) to Jewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at theVolksbühne inBerlin . Granach entered films in 1922; among the most widely exhibited of his silent efforts was the 1922 vampire classic "Nosferatu ", in which the actor was cast as Knock, the lunatic counterpart to Dracula's Renfield. He was co-starred in such major early German talkies asKameradschaft (1931). Granach, being Jewish, fled to theSoviet Union whenHitler came to power. When the Soviet Union also proved too inhospitable, he settled inHollywood , where he made his first American film appearance as Kopalski inErnst Lubitsch 's "Ninotchka ". Granach proved indispensable to big-studio filmmakers during the war years, effectively portraying both dedicated Nazis (he wasJulius Streicher in The "Hitler Gang ") and loyal anti-fascists. His last film appearance was inMGM 's "The Seventh Cross " (1944), in which virtually the entire supporting cast was comprised of prominent European refugees. Alexander Granach's autobiography, "There Goes an Actor ", was published in 1945, the year of his death.Alexander Granach died on March 14th 1945 in New York after an
appendectomy from apulmonary embolism .His son,
Gad Granach , currently lives in Jerusalem and has written his own memoir with many references to his father.External links
*
Literature
* Alexander Granach: There Goes an Actor, Doubleday, Dorian and Co, Inc., Garden City 1945, ASIN B0007DSBEM
* Alexander Granach: Da geht ein Mensch, Ölbaum-Verlag, Augsburg 2003, (Neuauflage) ISBN 3-927217-38-7
* Albert Klein/RayaGad Granach : Heimat los!, Ölbaum-Verlag, Augsburg 1997, ISBN 3-927217-31-X; Random House/Bertlesmann edition, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-442-73630-0
*Gad Granach : Where is Home? Stories from the Life of a German-Jewish Émigré, Yekkepotz Press, Kindle edition, Los Angeles 2008, ASIN B001BARVF0
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