Gottfried John

Gottfried John ( born August 29, 1942 in Berlin ) is a German actor.

Life

Gottfried John's father is unknown. Since his mother was deprived of parental rights, he grew up in homes. From 1960 to 1962 he lived with her in Paris, then in Berlin. There he took acting classes with Marlise Ludwig. His stage debut was at the Schiller Theater. In 1963 he played at the State Theatre Hannover, 1965 in Krefeld, then in Heidelberg.

In his film debut in 1971, he was awarded the title role in the television critical home movie Jaider - The Lonely Hunter. After that, John worked several times together with Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In 1982, he played under the direction of Eberhard Itzenplitz in the TV movie The Return of the white gods the Spanish missionary, human rights and colonial critics Bartolomé de las Casas ( 16th century). Important was his role as Reinhold Hoffmann in Fassbinder's 14 -part film adaptation of Alfred Döblin 's Berlin Alexanderplatz, one of the longest films ever made.

Internationally known, he is mainly due to its role of General Ouromov in the James Bond film GoldenEye in 1995. A year later, he starred in The Fiend (The Ogre ) with John Malkovich, Marianne and Simon McBurney Sägebrecht. In 2000, John played in Proof of Life as Erich Kessler ( with Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe ). For his role of Julius Caesar in Asterix film Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar in 2000 he was awarded the Bavarian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. In August 2006, he played the role of Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum in a production of Bertolt Brecht's Threepenny Opera by Klaus Maria Brandauer in the Berlin Admiralty.

After twelve years of residence in Belgium since 2008 Gottfried John lives with his wife at the Ammersee near Munich.

Filmography

Awards

Audiobooks

• Gottfried John reads: Dead Souls. by Nikolai Gogol. 2006, ISBN 978-3-7831-2794-2.
• Gottfried John reads: The hours. by Michael Cunningham. 2007, ISBN 978-3-86604-759-4.

Radio plays

• Gottfried John can be heard in the role of " Van Helsing " in the WDR production Dracula (three sections ), based on the novel by Bram Stoker, directed by Annette Kurth.