Gottfried John (German: [ˈjoːn]; 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 nine of the filmmaker's projects between 1975 and 1981, the year before Fassbinder's death, including Eight Hours Don't Make a Day, Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven, Despair, The Marriage of Maria Braun, and Berlin Alexanderplatz. His distinctive, gaunt appearance saw him frequently cast as villains, and he is best known to audiences for his role as the corrupt General Arkady Ourumov 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.
John was born in Berlin, Germany, on 29 August 1942.[citation needed] In World War II, he and his mother were evacuated to East Prussia; his father, whom he never met, was married to another woman.[citation needed] He grew up with his single-parent mother and in several protectories; John fled from such a protectory when he was 15 years old and returned to his mother, who was living in Paris.[citation needed]
In Paris, he earned a living as a pavement artist and construction worker, and he returned to Berlin in 1960.

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