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 as well as having played the role of Morzeny, a supporting 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 Bonn in 1924, to 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 immigrated to the United Kingdom in 1938, and he was naturalised as a British citizen in 1948.
Gotell became interested in acting during secondary school, and he began acting in repertory theatre as a teenager.
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).
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 KGB General Anatol Gogol in the series, beginning with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). 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.
Death
Gotell died from cancer on 5 May 1997, at the age of 73.