Walter Gotell

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Walter Gotell
Rhenish Prussia, Germany
Died5 May 1997(1997-05-05) (aged 73)
London, England[1]
Nationality
  • German
  • British
OccupationActor
Years active1942–1997
Spouses
  • Yvonne Hills
    (m. 1958; died 1974)
  • Celeste F. Mitchell
    (m. 1974)
Children1

Walter Jack Gotell (born Walter Jacques Goettel; 15 March 1924 – 5 May 1997) was a German-British actor. He was well known for his role as

General Gogol, head of the KGB, in the Roger Moore era of the James Bond film series[2] as well as having played the role of Morzeny, a villain, in From Russia With Love. He also appeared as Gogol in the final part of The Living Daylights (1987), Timothy Dalton
's debut Bond film.

Early life

Gotell was born Walter Jacques Goettel in

Jewish parents Margarete Wilhelmine (née Cohn) and Jakob Goettel. He was raised mainly in Berlin. Due to rising antisemitism and the growing influence of Nazism, Gotell and his family emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938, and he was naturalised as a British citizen in 1948.[4]

Gotell became interested in acting during secondary school, and he began acting in repertory theatre as a teeanger.

Career

Due to a shortage of young actors during World War II, Gotell began working in films starting in 1942. His bilingualism saw him cast as Nazi German villains and military men, such as in We Dive at Dawn (1943).[5]

He began to have more established roles by the early 1950s, appearing in The African Queen (1951), The Red Beret (1953) for Albert R. Broccoli, Ice Cold in Alex (1958), The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Road to Hong Kong (1962), Lord Jim (1965), Black Sunday (1977), The Boys from Brazil (1978) and Cuba (1979).[6]

His first role in the

Anatol Gogol in the series, beginning with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).[2] Gotell gained the role of Gogol because of his resemblance to the former head of Soviet secret police Lavrentiy Beria. The character returned in Moonraker (1979), For Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), and The Living Daylights (1987).[6] As the Cold War neared its end, the role of leader of the KGB was seen to change attitudes to the West – from direct competitor to collaborator. Gotell is one of a few actors to have played a villain and a Bond ally in the film series (others being Charles Gray, Richard Kiel and Joe Don Baker
).

Throughout his career, Gotell also made numerous guest appearances in television series including Danger Man, Knight Rider, The A-Team, Airline, Airwolf, The X-Files, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Miami Vice, Cagney & Lacey and The Saint among others. He played Chief Constable Cullen in Softly, Softly: Task Force (1969–75).[7] Other television roles included that of Sam Baker, a KGB agent in the hard-hitting British police drama The Professionals (1978) – the episode titled "The Female Factor".

Personal life

Gotell was married to actress Yvonne Hills from 1958, until her death in 1974. They had one daughter, Carol, born in 1960. Gotell remarried, to Celeste F. Mitchell, in 1974.

Gotell was a businessman as well as an actor, and used his acting salaries to fund his business interests.[2] He managed several engineering firms, and he owned a farm in Ireland. At one time, he owned the southernmost house in Europe.

Death

Gotell died on 5 May 1997, at the age of 73.[6]

Filmography

Film

Television

  • The Saint – episode – "The Hi-jackers" (1964) as Hans Lasser
  • Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
    – 3 episodes – (1964 & 1979) as Benton / Simmons
  • Sherlock Holmes – episode – "Wisteria Lodge" (1968) as Henderson
  • The Zoo Gang – episode – "Revenge: Post-Dated" (1974) as Boucher
  • Softly, Softly: Task Force (1969-1975) – 55 episodes – as Chief Constable Arthur Cullen
  • Hallelujah! as Lt. Colonel Henderson
  • The Professionals (6 January 1978), Series 1, episode 2 "The Female Factor" – as Baker
  • Scarecrow and Mrs. King – episode – "Service Above and Beyond" (1983) as Kurt Hollander
  • Airwolf – episode – "Fight Like a Dove" (1984) as Oberst Helmut Krüger / Hans Daubert
  • Fantasy Island – episode – "Bojangles and the Dancer/Deuces Are Wild" (1984) as Edward C. Bass / Charles Childress
  • The A-Team – episode – "Where Is the Monster When You Need Him?" (1985) as Ramon DeJarro
  • Spenser for Hire
    – episode – "A Madness Most Discreet" (1986) as Max Claus
  • Knight Rider – episode – "Knight Sting" (1985) as Simon Carascas
  • MacGyver – episode – "GX-1" (1987) as Starkoss
  • Miami Vice
    – episode – "When Irish Eyes Are Crying" (1986) as Max Klizer
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation – episode – "Home Soil" (1988) as Kurt Mandl
  • MacGyver – episode – "Gold Rush" (1989) as General Barenov
  • The X-Files – episode – "Paper Clip" (1995) as Victor Klemper

Other appearances

  • Inside 'From Russia with Love' – Video documentary short (2000) – Himself / Morzeny

References

  1. ^ "FamilySearch.org". FamilySearch.
  2. ^ a b c Tom Vallance Obituary: Walter Gotell, The Independent, 20 June 1997.
  3. ^ Biographie, Deutsche. "Gotell, Walter – Deutsche Biographie". www.deutsche-biographie.de (in German). Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  4. ^ https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38454/page/5943/data.pdf
  5. ^ a b "Walter Gotell | Movies and Filmography". AllMovie.
  6. ^ a b c "Walter Gotell". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016.
  7. ^ "Walter Gotell". www.aveleyman.com.

External links