A longtime collaborator of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John appeared in nine of his films 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 his comedic turn as Julius Caesar in Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar, for the latter of which he won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.

[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] In Paris, he earned a living as a pavement artist and construction worker, returning to Berlin in 1960.

[2][3][4] During the 1970s and early 1980s, John was cast by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder in several of his projects, in particular as Reinhold in the Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) mini-series.