Bikel's folk song record album, "Songs of a Russian Gypsy" (1958) became an unexpected hit and remained highly popular through the early 1960s. This became Elektra Records' best selling album at the time.
Theodore Bikel is an actor, folk singer, musician, writer and political activist. He has performed in over 100 stage productions and has appeared in numerous films and television shows. He is best known for his role as Tevye in the Broadway production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria on May 2, 1924. His parents were Jewish and his father was a doctor. Bikel’s family was forced to flee Austria when the Nazis came to power in 1938. They settled in Palestine, where Bikel attended high school. He later served in the British Army during World War II.
After the war, Bikel moved to London to study acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his stage debut in 1946 and his film debut in 1947. In 1955, Bikel moved to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.
Bikel’s most famous role was as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof.” He originated the role on Broadway in 1964 and won a Tony Award for his performance. He also played the role in the 1971 film adaptation of the musical.
In addition to his work in theatre and film, Bikel was also a successful folk singer. He released several albums and toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. He was also a political activist and a supporter of the civil rights movement.
Bikel married actress Rita Zohar in 1949. The couple had two children before divorcing in 1966. He married Aimee Ginsberg in 1969 and they had one child together. Bikel died on July 21, 2015 at the age of 91.
General Info
Full Name
Theodore Bikel
Died
July 21, 2015, Westwood, California, United States
Height
1.85 m
Profession
Actor, Teacher, Singer, Businessperson, Composer, Record producer, Screenwriter
Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance
Movies
The Defiant Ones, The African Queen, My Fair Lady, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Enemy Below, The Pride and the Passion, I Want to Live!, 200 Motels, Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem, The Blue Angel, My Side of the Mountain, The Colditz Story, Above Us the Wave...
[on President Reagan's annual budget cuts to the arts] Every profession has its John Wilkes Booth. Ours is Reagan.
2
I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars, banjos, fiddles and words.
3
I tried for awhile to be an agricultural worker and was hopelessly bored. I would stand around in heaps of manure and sing about the beauty of the work I wasn't doing.
4
No doubt, unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it cannot be willed by mere declarations.
5
What moves me is neither ethnocentric pride nor sectarian arrogance. I make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures. But it is mine.
6
You learn more from the flops than from the hits.
Facts
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Fact
1
Following his death, he was interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California, at the Garden of Solomon.
2
Theodore Bikel screen tested for the title role of the James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964), which went to Gert Fröbe.
3
Bikel's folk song record album, "Songs of a Russian Gypsy" (1958) became an unexpected hit and remained highly popular through the early 1960s. This became Elektra Records' best selling album at the time.
4
His parents, Miriam Gizella (Riegler) and Josef Bikel-Hasenfratz, were Jewish immigrants from Bukovina, in Central Europe.
5
Had performed the role of Tevye ("Fiddler on the Roof") over 2,000 times at various venues.
6
While making his film debut in The African Queen (1951), he appeared on the London stage in "Love of Four Colonels".
7
Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the song "Edelweiss" specifically for him to perform on Broadway in "The Sound of Music".
8
Co-founded the Newport Folk Festival (with Pete Seeger).
9
Had played submarine officers from three different European navies: as the executive officer of a German World War II U-Boat in the film The Enemy Below (1957); as retired World War I Austro-Hungarian U-Boat Captain Georg Von Trapp in the original 1959 Broadway production of The Sound of Music (1965); and as the captain of a Soviet submarine during the Cold War in the film The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming (1966).
10
He made guest appearances on both of the longest running prime time dramas in US television history: Gunsmoke (1955) and Law & Order (1990).
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 29, 2005.
13
Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award: in 1958, as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "The Rope Dancers", and in 1960, as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Musical) for "The Sound of Music".
