Alexander Granach | |
|---|---|
 Alexander Granachc. 1920 | |
| Born | Jessaja Szajko Gronach (1890-04-18)April 18, 1890 |
| Died | March 14, 1945(1945-03-14) (aged 54) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Resting place | Montefiore Cemetery |
| Other names | Jessaja Granach |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1920–1944 |
| Spouse | |
| Partner | Lotte Lieven (1933–1945, his death) |
| Children | Gad Granach |
Alexander Granach (bornJessaja Szajko Gronach; April 18, 1890 – March 14, 1945) was a German-Austrian actor in the 1920s and 1930s who emigrated to the United States in 1938.[1]
Granach was born Jessaja Szajko Gronach in Werbowitz (Wierzbowce/Werbiwci) (AustrianGalicia then, nowVerbivtsi,Kolomyia Raion,Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine), toJewish parents and rose to theatrical prominence at theVolksbühne in Berlin. Granach entered films in 1922; among the most widely exhibited of his silent efforts wasNosferatu (1922),F.W. Murnau's loose adaptation ofDracula, in which the actor was cast as Knock, the film's counterpart toRenfield. He co-starred in such major early German talkies asKameradschaft (1931).
The Jewish Granach fled to theSoviet Union whenAdolf Hitler came to power in Germany. When the Soviet Union also proved inhospitable, he settled in Hollywood, where he made his first American film appearance as Kopalski inNinotchka (1939) starringGreta Garbo and directed byErnst Lubitsch, released byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Granach proved indispensable to film makers during the war years, effectively portraying both dedicated Nazis (he wasJulius Streicher inThe Hitler Gang, 1944) and loyalanti-fascists. He portrayedGestapo Inspector Alois Gruber inFritz Lang'sHangmen Also Die! (1943). His last film appearance was inMGM'sThe Seventh Cross (1944), in which almost the entire supporting cast was prominent European refugees.
Granach died on March 14, 1945, in New York from apulmonary embolism following anappendectomy. He was buried in Montefiore Cemetery inSpringfield Gardens, Queens.[2] Granach's autobiography,There Goes an Actor (1945) was republished in 2010 under the new title,From the Shtetl to the Stage: The Odyssey of a Wandering Actor (Transaction Publishers). He was survived by his long time partner, Lotte Lieven,[3] and by his son,Gad Granach. His son, who lived in Jerusalem, wrote his own memoirs with many references to his father.
