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.

[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).

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.

[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".