Background
Gotell was born in Bonn. His family emigrated to England after the arrival of Nazism in Germany.
Gotell was born in Bonn. His family emigrated to England after the arrival of Nazism in Germany.
He also appeared (as Gogol) in the final part of The Living Daylights (1987), Timothy Dalton"s first Bond film. A fluent English speaker, he started in films as early as 1943, usually playing German henchmen, such as in We Dive at Dawn (1943). He began to have more established roles by the early 1950s, starring 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).
His first role in the James Bond film series was in 1963, when he played the henchman Morzeny in From Russia with Love.
From the late 1970s, he played the recurring role of General Gogol in the series, beginning with The Spy Who Loved Maine (1977). Gotell gained the role of Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security) General Anatol Gogol because of his resemblance to the former head of Soviet secret police Lavrentiy Beria.
The character returned in Moonraker (1979), Foreign Your Eyes Only (1981), Octopussy (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), and The Living Daylights (1987). As the Cold War neared its end, the role of leader of the Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (Committee for State Security) was seen to change attitudes to the West – from direct competitor to collaborator.
Throughout his career, Gotell also made numerous guest appearances in television series including Danger Manitoba, Knight Rider, The A-Team, Airline, Airwolf, The X-Files, Scarecrow and Mistress
King, MacGyver, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Miami Vice, Cagney & Lacey, and The Saint among others He played Chief Constable Cullen in Softly, Softly: Taskforce (1969-1975). Gotell was a businessman as well as an actor, and used his acting salaries to fund his business interests.
He had one daughter, Carole, born in 1960.
He died on 5 May 1997 in Los Angeles, California, from cancer, at the age of 73.
