Known for Acting
Gottfried John (German: [ˈjoːn];[1] 29 August 1942 – 1 September 2014) was a German stage, screen, and voice actor. A long-time collaborator of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John appeared in many of the filmmaker's projects between 1975 and his death in 1982, including Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven, Despair, The Marriage of Maria Braun , and Berlin Alexanderplatz. His distinctive, gaunt appearance saw him he frequently cast as villains, and he is best known to audiences for his role as the corrupt General Arkady Orumov in the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, and for his comedic turn as Julius Caesar in Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar, the latter for which he won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Born
August 29, 1942
Died
September 1, 2014 (age 72)
Birthplace
Berlin, Germany
Filmography
79 films, 31 shows


Emerald Green
2016 · 1h 53m · DE
Emerald Green is the stunning conclusion to Kerstin Gier's Ruby Red Trilogy, picking up where Sapphire Blue left off, reaching new heights of intrigue and romance as Gwen finally uncovers the secrets of the time-traveling society and learns her fate.


A World Beyond
2013 · 1h 30m · DE
Hans and Fridel are a marriage that come to Java fleeing of the pursuit Nazi just before the Second World war comes untied. In this paradise Hans finds an employment as municipal police, but his wife, always unsatisfied, turns into one addicted to the opium. One day Hans knows Helen, the daughter of an important businessman, with whom he falls in love almost to the instant. But Fridel is his major worry, and can´t leave her, though it will not be able to forget Helen either.


Ruby Red
2013 · 2h 2m · DE
On her 16th birthday, Gwendolyn Shepherd finds out that instead of her cousin, she has inherited a rare gene that allows her to travel through time.


Die Löwin
2012 · 1h 29m · DE
After many years in Germany, the young doctor Lena returns to South Africa, the place of her childhood, for the first time. Her grandfather Jo, on whose farm she lived with her parents, is terminally ill. With the help of her partner Felix and her mother Sarah, Lena tries to persuade the headstrong old big-game hunter to seek treatment in Germany.


Life Is Too Long
2010 · 1h 26m · DE
No crisis is as disastrous, overwhelming and unjust as that of Alfi Seliger. The Jewish filmmaker, hypochondriac and family man is up to his neck in problems: his pubescent children Romy and Alain find him ridiculous, his wife Helena would be happy if she only found him ridiculous, his bank is going bankrupt and his new film project is finding it difficult to meet with approval. Friend becomes foe, hope becomes paranoia and when even his psychiatrist advises him to end his life, Alfi Seliger attempts a theatrical exit. But as befits a born "Nebbich", a lovable loser, even this fails - he survives and only appears to awaken in his old life...


Aghet
2010 · 1h 30m · DE
2010 documentary film on the Armenian Genocide by the Young Turk government of the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It is based on eyewitness reports by European and American personnel stationed in the Near East at the time, Armenian survivors and other contemporary witnesses which are recited by modern German actors.


Rumpelstilzchen
2009 · 58m · DE
The king locks the miller’s daughter, Lisa, in a room full of straw to turn into gold in just one night. If she doesn’t succeed she would be executed.


Black Flowers
2009 · 1h 40m · AT
Following the failure of his last mission, RFG spy Michael Roddick decides to disappear, taking along Elena, the daughter of a Russian spy who died under strange circumstances. They settle in Barcelona and open a restaurant, to help them to forget about the past. Nevertheless, his former colleagues reappear alleging there are still some matters yet to be settled.


John Rabe
2009 · 2h 14m · AT
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.


The Papal Council
2008 · 1h 48m · DE
An assassination attempt on the highest dignitary of the Catholic Church? According to providence, this is exactly what is supposed to happen on a certain day in September. When parts of the prophecy actually come true, the Vatican is seriously worried. The highest security measures are therefore in place for the Holy Father's upcoming visit to Cologne. Vatican security officers Andrea Conti and Paolo Naldini, as well as BKA officers Sara Stertz and Frank Dabrock, join forces to protect the Pope. At around the same time, former Foreign Legionnaire and precision marksman Rami Hamdan receives a mysterious assignment. For the horrendous sum of 25 million dollars, he is to take out a high-ranking figure. His destination is the cathedral city of Cologne.


Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz: A Mega Movie and Its Story
2007 · 1h 5m · DE
A documentary about the making of the television mini-series by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, including interviewees with the principal actors.


Flood
2007 · 1h 50m · CA
Timely yet terrifying, The Flood predicts the unthinkable. When a raging storm coincides with high seas it unleashes a colossal tidal surge, which travels mercilessly down England's East Coast and into the Thames Estuary. Overwhelming the Barrier, torrents of water pour into the city. The lives of millions of Londoners are at stake.
Das zweite Leben
Das zweite Leben
2007 · 1h 30m · DE


A Pirate's Heart
2006 · 3h · DE
The end of the 14th century. Parents send the eldest son Jan to study in Hamburg, and the youngest - Klaus - to the monastery. No sooner had the children moved away from their homes, as on Klaus'es eyes the robbers kill their parents and burn the house. Only thanks to the loyal monk Wigbold Klaus managed to survive the shock. A few years later Klaus Störtebeker finds his brother Jan and his long-time friend Elizabeth Pren in Hamburg. From her, he learns that she is expected to marry Simon von Wallenrod, whose father Klaus suspects of killing his parents. But the Pranks and the Wallenrods are rich and respected people, and Klaus is a poor man. And now he becomes a pirate...


The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
2005 · 1h 39m · FR
Dark fairytale about a demonic doctor who abducts a beautiful opera singer with designs on transforming her into a mechanical nightingale.


Julie, chevalier de Maupin
2005 · 3h · IT
Agnès Dormes, a famous opera singer, saves Julie, a baby girl who was about to be sacrificed during a black mass. Twenty years later, the baby has turned into a beautiful energetic twenty-year-old young lady determined to find out about her origins. In Avignon, Julie manages to meet Agnès and discovers on the occasion she is not her real mother. A series of adventures will ensue and at a time Julie is nearly burned on the stake. But she eventually achieves her end and can marry, a street performer close to her heart.


Cowgirl
2004 · 1h 24m · DE
Dreamy Paula and her husband Edgar, an insurance salesman, lead a dull, middle-class life in Struvensiel, a fictitious suburb of Hamburg. Paula runs into her childhood sweetheart Max at their 10-year class reunion. In order to save him from Hamburg's underworld, she turns - to her own surprise - from a plain country bumpkin into a tough lady.


Die schöne Braut in Schwarz
2004 · 3h 4m · DE
Sylvia Rosch is a woman with dangerous obsessions. Camouflaged by perfectly rehearsed masquerades, she wages a merciless campaign of revenge. Anyone who gets too close will succumb to an insidious murder. The marriage swindler's preferred victims are men worth millions. Barbara Lahn and Til Wegner from the BKA are facing a huge challenge. They are supposed to collect evidence against the angel of death.


Renzo e Lucia
2004 · 3h 6m · IT
Loose adaptation of Italy's national epic, Alessandro Manzoni's “The Betrothed”. In war-torn 17th century Italy, shady feudal lord Don Rodrigo eyes young and beautiful Lucia, who loves—and is reciprocated by—commoner Renzo. The two lovers plan to marry in secret, but Rodrigo discovers it and they are forced to flee their village, becoming separated and each facing many dangers, including the Plague.


Augustus: The First Emperor
2003 · 3h 20m
Old and ill, Augustus, the man who changed the fortunes and destiny of an empire by completing Julius Caesar's project, recounts the two most important phases of his life: his rise to power and his fight against the pressure of his family.


My Magical Friend Sams
2003 · 1h 36m · DE
Sams in danger, it is said, when Mr. Taschenbier's son Martin brings the Sams back into the household, which, however, is kidnapped shortly afterwards by the sports teacher because of his special skills.


Entrusted
2003 · 2h 10m · UK
Hoping to entrap Maria von Gall, who runs a courageous underground railroad for Jews in France, the Nazis kidnap her son Thomas, a brilliant 11-year-old chess master. An exchange arrangement goes awry and he sees her die in a hail of bullets; but he is rescued by his American father, whom he has never met before, and who plans to flee with him to Spain. However, Queen Maria had solemnly entrusted her little pawn Thomas with a precious secret and a terrifying mission, and it was time for him to move. A pawn may become an important piece by slowly, quietly advancing all the way through the enemy's ranks. Or a pawn may die trying. Retreat is what a pawn can never do.


The Gathering Storm
2002 · 1h 34m · UK
A love story offering an intimate look inside the marriage of Winston and Clementine Churchill during a particularly troubled, though little-known, moment in their lives.
Der Solist - In eigener Sache
Der Solist - In eigener Sache
2002 · DE


Proof of Life
2000 · 2h 15m · US
When Peter Bowman, an American engineer working in a South American country, is captured by anti-government forces, the rebels learn his identity and demand $5 million for his safe return. However, his US employer is on the verge of insolvency and will not provide the ransom. Peter's wife Alice is forced to deal with the matter on her own and she retains the services of freelance professional hostage negotiator Terry Thorne.


Mary Magdalene
2000 · 1h 40m · DE
Employed as a spy and given the task of investigating the threat posed by John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene is overwhelmed by John's powerful message of the coming of the Messiah. Gazing into John's eyes before he dies, Mary is left with the certainty that her place is at the side of this great man, Jesus Christ.


Balzac: A Life of Passion
1999 · 4h · DE
This is the sprawling saga of Honoré de Balzac, a man who created a great literary oeuvre from the dramas and adventures of his own life - a life that he shaped into one spectacular and unforgettable blaze of passion. At the heart of the story are the women in Balzac's life. Although gruff, unsophisticated, and far from handsome, Balzac exerts an irresistible fascination on women.
Beckmann und Markowski: Gehetzt
Beckmann und Markowski: Gehetzt
1999 · DE


Asterix and Obelix Take On Caesar
1999 · 1h 49m · FR
Set in 50 B.C., Asterix and Obelix are living in a small but well-protected village in Gaul, where a magic potion concocted by Druids turns the townsfolk into mighty soldiers. When Roman troops carve a path through Gaul to reach the English Channel, Caesar and his aide de camp Detritus discover the secret elixir and capture the Druid leader who knows its formula, and Asterix and Obelix are sent off to rescue them.
Teuflischer Engel
Teuflischer Engel
1999 · DE
Die Fremde in meiner Brust
Die Fremde in meiner Brust
1998 · DE


Am I Beautiful?
1998 · 1h 57m · DE
Between Munich and Seville, the destinies of sixteen characters intertwine and intersect, missing each other or colliding head-on. They are all, without knowing it, at a pivotal moment in their lives...
Life, Love & Celluloid
Life, Love & Celluloid
1998 · 1h 37m · DE
Documentary musing upon the work of German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Glatteis
Glatteis
1998 · 1h 30m · DE
Mein zweites Leben
Mein zweites Leben
1998 · DE


La casa dove abitava Corinne
1996 · 1h 40m · IT
The story of Doriana, a young lawyer, who moves to Rome, because a criminal she convicted has escaped prison and threatens to kill her. But the flat she takes in Rome doesn't bring her any luck either: In her new flat, unbeknownst to her, a call girl called Corinne has been stabbed to death almost a year ago, and the killer has never been caught. As soon as she lives there, she gets anonymous telephone calls and other hints to the murder. When she learns about the unsolved case, she starts to investigate by herself.
Beckmann und Markowski: Im Zwiespalt der Gefühle
Beckmann und Markowski: Im Zwiespalt der Gefühle
1996 · DE


The Ogre
1996 · 1h 53m · FR
Frenchman Abel Tiffauges is a naive man who lives a simple life working as a mechanic. Falsely accused of being a child abuser, he is recruited as a soldier when World War II begins, but is captured soon and taken to the heart of Nazi Germany.


GoldenEye
1995 · 2h 10m · UK
When a powerful secret defense system is stolen, James Bond is assigned to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using it.


Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life
1995 · 1h 45m · DE
Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta (run by brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta) to learn to become a servant. With seven other men, he studies under Lisa: absurd lessons of movement, drawing circles, and servility. He asks for a better room. No other students arrive and none leave for employment. Johannes is unhappy, imperious, and detached from the school's operation. Lisa is beautiful, at first tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There's a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she to him. As winter sets in, she becomes catatonic. Things get worse; Johannes notes that all this has happened since Jakob came. Is there any cause and effect?
Brüder auf Leben und Tod
Brüder auf Leben und Tod
1995
Manuel is the right-hand man of drug lord Renato Calvi. After Manuel witnesses his boss brutally punishing a man who apparently betrayed him to the police, he decides to break away from Renato and go into business for himself. Renato is not happy about this and now wants to involve Manuel's younger brother TS in his business. But what no one suspects is that TS is working closely with the police!
Die Zeit danach
Die Zeit danach
1994 · 1h 45m · AT
An economics expert from the West is contracted by a large firm to assist in the reorganization of a debt-ridden steel plant in the former Eastern Bloc. Believing himself to be eagerly awaited, he finds that his position has already been taken: Another man has already begun the job in his name, obviously with official approval. What first appears to be a strange mix-up soon turns into a threat to his existence when he discovers that not only his professional, but also his private identity has been assumed by the stranger.


Novalis - Die blaue Blume
1994 · 1h 37m · DE
A romantic fairy tale about love.
Deadly Web
Deadly Web
1994 · DE
Ein letzter Wille
Ein letzter Wille
1994 · 1h 32m · DE


Abraham
1993 · 3h 4m · CZ
Rather than choosing a great leader or king, God chooses Abraham, an elderly shepherd from Mesopotamia, as the way to establish his Covenant with mankind... A man of great faith, Abraham continues to believe in God even when He seems to have abandoned him.


The Mistake
1992 · 1h 44m · DE
It is 1988. Jacob, from Hamburg in West Germany, falls in love with Elisabeth in East Germany. When they secretly meet in East Berlin, it seems the Stasi (secret police) knows about it. When Jacob visits her village, someone informs on him and he is deported. Elisabeth knows who begrudges her this love and takes her revenge. Critics note that in this film, director Heiner Carow revisits the themes of his 1972 smash hit, The Legend of Paul and Paula, which became a cult film throughout Germany.
Ich schenk’ Dir die Sterne
Ich schenk’ Dir die Sterne
1991 · 1h 31m · DE
An eccentric pop singer from a dreary social background in a Munich suburb turns men's heads by the dozen and makes an unexpected career when a serious businessman asks for her hand in marriage. This could put her life in new order, but the practicing tantric, whose top priority is always to say yes, is only at the beginning of her complicated existence.
Elfenbein
Elfenbein
1991 · DE


Night of the Fox
1990 · 3h 8m · FR
This classic war movie stars George Peppard and Michael York in a gripping tale of danger, intrigue, and a deadly secret that could determine the fate of millions. U.S. Officer Colonel Hugh Kelso has inside knowledge about the imminent and highly secretive D-Day Invasion. When he washes ashore behind enemy lines, special agents Harry Martineau and Sara Drayton of the Allied Forces must stage a covert rescue to save his life – or end it – before the Germans acquire the valuable information he possesses. Joined by an Italian naval officer and a Jewish actor-turned-German paratrooper, the agents embark on a thrilling rescue mission with a shocking twist.


Wings of Fame
1990 · 1h 56m · NL
After several attempts to approach film star Cesar Valentin, writer Brian Smith takes matters into his own hands, shooting the actor in front of hundreds of fans, only to be killed himself in the ensuing chaos. Achieving instant notoriety, Smith transcends with Valentin to a luxury hotel in the afterlife, a strange new world beyond the veil of mortality inhabited exclusively by dead celebrities.


Death Has a Bad Reputation
1990 · 1h 38m
A British agent is chasing after famous terrorist Carlos when he resurfaces in Europe.


Schön war die Zeit
1988 · 1h 49m · DE
Pattberg's Legacy
Pattberg's Legacy
1987 · DE
Der Fall Franza
Der Fall Franza
1987 · 1h 36m · AT


Of Pure Blood
1986 · 2h · US
A mother investigating her son's mysterious death finds much more than she bargained for. Casting director Alicia Browning (Remick) takes leave of her job in NYC to investigate what happened to her son Mark (Browning) in Germany. Her persistence uncovers perplexing details that lead to the discovery of some very unsettling, and dark personal memories!


Mata Hari
1985 · 1h 48m · US
In August 1914, war between France and Germany seems imminent. Mata Hari, a beautiful Dutch-born dancer working in Paris, accepts an invitation to travel to Berlin as part of a show. On the train, she meets a young German army officer but any thoughts of romance are cut short when a French agent is murdered while in her company. She is arrested in Germany but freed when the officer intervenes. While in Germany, WWI breaks out and Hari is recruited by German Intelligence to spy on France.


Otto - The Movie
1985 · 1h 25m · DE
East Friesian Otto moves to the big city Hamburg. There he gets into trouble with a loan shark and needs to find a way to impress his love interest Silvia.


The Followers
1985 · DE
Combining archival footage with dramatized episodes based on real accounts, this film examines everyday life in Nazi Germany through the experiences of ordinary citizens. Directed by Eberhard Itzenplitz and Erwin Leiser, it traces how conformity, opportunism, fear, and routine compromise drew “ordinary” men and women into complicity with the regime, revealing the banality of evil at work in daily life.
Verworrene Bilanzen
Verworrene Bilanzen
1985 · DE


Bartolome oder Die Rückkehr der weißen Götter
1985 · 1h 56m · DE


Chinese Boxes
1984 · 1h 27m · UK
An American in West Berlin finds himself caught up in murder and intrigue after his associate is killed and a diplomat's daughter is found dead in his room.


Super
1984 · 1h 41m
The Earth shortly before its end. The houses in the cities are deserted, the streets smashed. The sky shimmers dark gray.
Die Matrosen von Kronstadt
Die Matrosen von Kronstadt
1983 · DE


Lili Marleen
1981 · 2h · DE
The story of a German singer named Willie, who while working in Switzerland, falls in love with a Jewish composer named Robert, whose family is helping people to flee from the Nazis. Robert’s family is skeptical of Willie, thinking she could be a Nazi as she becomes famous for singing the song “Lili Marleen”.


The Marriage of Maria Braun
1979 · 2h · DE
Maria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.
Die Ratten
Die Ratten
1979 · DE
Wo die Liebe hinfällt
Wo die Liebe hinfällt
1979 · DE


In a Year with 13 Moons
1978 · 2h 4m · DE
Elvira Weishaupt, once a burly working-class butcher, has made an enormous sacrifice for love. She has undergone a sex change for a romantic interest who has abandoned her, and she now must struggle to reconcile her past life with her present identity.
1982: Gutenbach
1982: Gutenbach
1978 · 1h 44m · DE
After many years away, development aid worker Peter Kessel returns to his home town of Gutenbach in 1982. He is astonished to discover that a lot has changed there. Cashless payments are used everywhere and facilities such as screen journals and video telephones have become a matter of course. Kessel tries to adapt to the changed circumstances and encounters difficulties in the process.


Despair
1978 · 1h 57m · DE
Berlin, 1930, during the rise of Nazism. Hermann Hermann, a Russian emigrant and chocolate manufacturer, married to the capricious Lydia, loses his temper more and more every day when dealing with his workers and other businessmen; until he meets Felix, a vagrant, who seems to be physically identical to him; a disconcerting fact that leads Hermann Hermann to plot a particular way out of a fake world he actually hates.
Marija
Marija
1978 · CH


Fedora
1978 · 1h 49m · FR
Down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler attempts to lure Fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement, only to discover the horrifying truth behind her success.


The Stationmaster’s Wife
1977 · 1h 52m · DE
The lackluster and plodding Bolweiser has the (mis)fortune to be married to the town’s siren; his trusting nature leads him into serious trouble when she beds nearly every available guy.


Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven
1975 · 1h 48m · DE
Frau Emma Küsters prepares dinner late one seemingly-ordinary afternoon in her seemingly-ordinary Frankfurt kitchen. She wants to add canned sausages to the stew; her irritating daughter-in-law thinks otherwise. But the point is moot: Ernst Küsters has not only murdered the personnel director at the soap factory where he's employed but succeeded that by committing suicide.


Carlos
1971 · 1h 42m · DE
In the Southwest of 1915 Carlos backs an intended uprising of the common countymen against his father Phillip, a despotic landowner who exploits the rural poors in his silver mines. But Carlos' indecision and his love for his young and beautiful stepmother leads into a failure.


Jaider, the Lonely Hunter
1971 · 1h 34m · DE
When Jaider has to illegally poach in order to feed the citizens of a poor Alpine town, he gets into a blood-soaked conflict with the German authorities.


Das Mädchen und der Staatsanwalt
1962 · 1h 28m · DE
A mother is sentenced to one year in prison for matchmaking her underage daughter with her adult boyfriend.


Café Oriental
1962 · DE