Nehemiah Persoff
Nehemiah Persoff | |
|---|---|
 Persoff in 1960 | |
| Born | August 2, 1919[1][2] |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1948–1999 |
| Spouse(s) | Thia Persoff
(m. 1951; died 2021) |
| Children | 4 |
| Signature | |
 | |
Nehemiah Persoff (born August 2, 1919) is an American retired actor and painter. He appeared in more than 200 television series, films, and plays in a career spanning over 50 years, beginning after World War II.
Early life[]
Born in Jerusalem, Persoff emigrated with his family to the United States in 1929 and graduated from the Hebrew Technical Institute in 1937.[3] After serving in the United States Army during World War II, he worked as a subway electrician, maintaining signals while he began to pursue his acting career in the New York theater. In 1947, he was accepted into the Actors Studio, and was one of the 26 members of the beginners' class taught by Elia Kazan, along with James Whitmore and Julie Harris. He began his acting career in 1948.[4][5]
Acting career[]
One of his early roles was as the gangster boss Little Bonaparte, a parody of Little Caesar[6] in Billy Wilder's film classic Some Like It Hot (1959). He also appeared in supporting roles in films such as The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) and The Comancheros (1961). In the film Yentl (1983), Persoff portrayed the father of Barbra Streisand's character. He appeared in the comedy film Twins (1988) and in the American Tail animated-film series as Papa Mousekewitz. His last movie was 4 Faces (1999), the last film to be directed by Ted Post.
His many television credits include Five Fingers ("The Moment of Truth"), The Big Valley ("Legend of a General", Parts I & II, episode), Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Heart of Gold" episode), The Twilight Zone ("Judgment Night"), The Untouchables (six episodes, including three episodes as Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, regarded by many as his signature role[7]), Naked City, Route 66 (two episodes), Seaway ("Last Voyage" episode, 1965), The Legend of Jesse James, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Gunsmoke, Gilligan's Island (as the title character in the episode "The Little Dictator", the favorite episode of the show's creator Sherwood Schwartz[8]), The Wild Wild West, The High Chaparral ("Fiesta" episode, 1970), Hawaii Five-O (seven episodes), Cannon, Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of the Pharaoh's Curse" episode), Mission: Impossible (three episodes), Adam-12 ("Vendetta" episode), The Mod Squad, Barney Miller (three episodes) and Star Trek: The Next Generation, ("The Most Toys" 1990). He appeared as the Eastern Alliance Leader in the Battlestar Galactica episode, "Experiment in Terra" (1979).
Personal life[]
Persoff retired from acting in 1999 and pursued painting, specializing in watercolors. He currently lives in Cambria, California.[9] His wife, Thia, died in 2021 due to cancer.[10] They had four children.
Filmography[]
Film[]
References[]
- ^ International Television & Video Almanac (2007), pg. 366
- ^ This former Hollywood movie star living in Cambria just celebrated his 100th birthday
- ^ "Hebrew Technical Institute Graduation Program". December 6, 2011 – via Flickr.
- ^ Shadrak, Herbert (March 26, 2010). "Nehemiah Persoff: From Jerusalem to Hollywood – and Beyond". Cinema Retro. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
- ^ Staggs, Sam (2005). When Blanche Met Brando: The Scandalous Story of "A Streetcar Named Desire". St. Martin's Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780312321642. Retrieved March 19, 2019.
- ^ Jeffrey Meyers: The Genius and the Goddess: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe. University of Illinois Press, 2010, ISBN 978-0-252-03544-9, p. 193.
- ^ "Exclusive! Interview with acclaimed actor nehemiah persoff - Cinema Retro". cinemaretro.com.
- ^ Cantor, Paul A. (July 15, 2011). "What 'Gilligan's Island' creator Sherwood Schwartz was saying about democracy". The Washington Post.
- ^ "Nehemiah Persoff retired from screen to canvas". Senior Voice. Retrieved June 12, 2017.
- ^ "At 102, SLO County actor and painter Nehemiah Persoff adds a new title — author". San Luis Obispo Tribune. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nehemiah Persoff. |
- Nehemiah Persoff at IMDb
- Nehemiah Persoff at the Internet Broadway Database
- Nehemiah Persoff Paintings
Authority control  | |
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| General |
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| National libraries | |
| Other | |
- 1919 births
- Living people
- American people of Palestinian-Jewish descent
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- American male painters
- United States Army personnel of World War II
- 20th-century American painters
- 21st-century American painters
- 21st-century male artists
- Artists from New York City
- Military personnel from New York City
- Mandatory Palestine emigrants to the United States
- Electricians
- Jews in Mandatory Palestine
- Jewish American male actors
- Jewish painters
- Male actors from Jerusalem
- United States Army soldiers
- Western (genre) television actors
- American centenarians
- Men centenarians
- 21st-century American Jews