Broadway's
'Fiddler on the Roof' star Theodore Bikel dead at 91
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[July 22, 2015]
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
Actor Theodore Bikel, who originated the stage role of
Captain von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" but was best
known for starring as Tevye, the poor Jewish milkman, in
the Broadway hit musical "Fiddler on the Roof," died on
Tuesday at age 91.
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A native of Vienna, Austria, who grew up in
British-controlled Palestine and became a U.S. citizen in 1961,
Bikel died of natural causes at a Los Angeles hospital, his
publicist, Harlan Boll, said in a statement.
Bikel began his celebrated run as Tevye in 1967 after Zero
Mostel had originated the role. He went on to perform the part
of the struggling Jewish dairyman, and such memorable songs as
"Tradition" and "If I Were a Rich Man," in excess of 2,000
times, more than any other Broadway actor.
The musical, set in the fictional Jewish shtetl, or settlement,
of Anatevka in 1905 czarist Russia, is based on a series of
stories by Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, collectively titled "Tevye
and his Daughters."
It chronicles the joys and hardships of Jewish life described in
the opening scenes by its protagonist as being as shaky as a
fiddler on the roof. The 1971 motion picture adaptation starred
Chaim Topol as Tevye.
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By the time he launched his stint in "Fiddler," Bikel had
already woven himself into the fabric of the great American
musical playing Captain Georg Von Trapp, opposite Mary Martin,
in the original Broadway production of "The Sound of Music."
The role, which paralleled his own family's escape from Austria
following the German annexation of their homeland in the 1930s,
earned Bikel his second Tony nomination in 1960. Two years
earlier he had been nominated for his work in "The Rope
Dancers."
He was also the first to perform "Edelweiss," which was written
specifically for Bikel, an accomplished folk musician, during
final off-Broadway tryouts of the "Sound of Music" when it was
realized his character was lacking a song of his own.
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In the film version of the musical, Christopher Plummer assumed the
role of the captain, with Julie Andrews starring as Maria.
Bikel's own big-screen career spanned more than 150 appearances,
including his 1951 movie debut as a German naval officer in the
classic "The African Queen" and an Oscar-nominated turn as a
Southern sheriff opposite Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier in "The
Defiant Ones."
He also played Zoltan Karpathy, the Hungarian linguist, in the movie
version of "My Fair Lady," a submarine captain in "The Russians Are
Coming the Russians Are Coming" and the king of Serbia in the 1952
film production of "Moulin Rouge."
Bikel appeared in numerous television shows during three decades -
ranging form "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" to "Star Trek: The Next
Generation," in which he played the adoptive father of Klingon
Lieutenant Commander Worf. In one memorable guest role on the CBS
sitcom "All in the Family," he played a German butcher infatuated
with Edith Bunker.
As a recording artist, he produced several albums of Jewish folk
songs.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Beech)
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