‘Fiddler on the Roof’ Star Topol Dies at 87 – Billboard

Chaim Topol, the spirited Israeli actor and singer who, one season following one other, portrayed Tevye the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof on phases throughout the world and in an Oscar-nominated flip in Norman Jewison’s 1971 movie adaptation, has died. He was 87.

The Associated Press, citing Israeli leaders, reported that Topol died Thursday in Tel Aviv.

Israel’s first worldwide film star, Topol additionally performed famed Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei in Galileo (1975); an American scientist, Dr. Hans Zarkov, in the cult sci-fi basic Flash Gordon (1980); and Milos Columbo, a Greek smuggler and ally of Roger Moore’s James Bond, in For Your Eyes Only (1981).

As Polish household man Berel Jastrow, he was central to the plot of two acclaimed Eighties ABC miniseries, The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, each primarily based on Herman Wouk novels.

In a pairing {that a} matchmaker would certainly respect, Topol by his personal estimation linked with Tevye greater than 3,500 occasions over greater than 4 a long time, beginning with a Hebrew-language manufacturing in his residence nation when he was 30.

He additionally starred as the Jewish dairyman and father of 5 daughters — and carried out such signature songs as “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Tradition” and “If I Were a Rich Man” — on the West End in the mid-Sixties and on Broadway in 1990-91, receiving a Tony nomination in the course of.

“How many people are known for one part? How many people in my profession are known worldwide? So, I am not complaining,” he mentioned in a 2015 interview. “Sometimes I am surprised when I come to China or when I come to Tokyo or when I come to France or when I come wherever and the clerk at the immigration says, ‘Topol, Topol, are you Topol?’ So yes, many people saw it [Fiddler], and it is not a bad thing.”

The oldest of three youngsters, Chaim Topol was born in Tel Aviv on Sept. 9, 1935. His father, Jacob, was a plasterer, and his mom, Imrela, a seamstress. He labored as a printer for a newspaper whereas taking highschool lessons at night time, then lived on a kibbutz for a 12 months.

He gained expertise as an entertainer in the Israeli military, the place he acted and sang in a touring theatrical troupe. After the service, he honed his abilities performing round the nation for 3 years in a kibbutz theater group that he and his buddies had based in 1957.

Topol had a significant breakthrough when he was solid as a Middle Eastern immigrant struggling to fend for his household in Israel in Sallah Shabati (1964). An enormous hit at residence, the social satire was nominated for the Oscar for finest foreign-language movie, and Topol, then 29, acquired a Golden Globe for many promising male newcomer for taking part in a personality in his 50s. (Topol had carried out the title function in a play whereas in the military.)

Two years later, he made his English-language movie debut alongside Kirk Douglas in Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), enjoying a Bedouin chief in the drama set amid the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

At the urging of buddies, Topol got here to New York to see Zero Mostel star as Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye in the authentic 1964-72 Broadway manufacturing of Hal Prince’s Fiddler on the Roof, that includes music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and course and choreography by Jerome Robbins. He then performed the milkman for 10 weeks in Israel, stepping in for Shmuel Rodensky, who had taken unwell.

Prince had seen Topol in Sallah Shabati and invited him to check for the lead in the London manufacturing of Fiddler because it moved from Broadway in 1966.

“They could not believe it was me when I went to the audition because I was too young! They expected Sallah, who was old. Not me!” he mentioned. “I knew no English. I studied the songs. I sang ‘If I Were a Rich Man’ after which one other track from Fiddler. It was the first audition in my life.

“They asked how many times I had seen the show. I said maybe four times. They couldn’t understand how I knew all the movements, all the songs from the show. I said, ‘No, you don’t understand … I’m currently performing in Fiddler, in Tel Aviv!”

After he was employed, he started to go by Topol after the British producers had bother saying his first identify.

He landed the lead in Jewison’s movie model at United Artists regardless of lobbying by Mostel, Rod Steiger, Danny Kaye and Frank Sinatra to play the half. He was employed “probably because I was cheaper,” he instructed The Jerusalem Post in 2013.

In its evaluate, THR famous that Topol imbued his efficiency “with all the compassion, intensity and rough humor it requires. His speaking voice is magnificent, and if his singing voice is imperfect, this only seems appropriate to the characterization.”

Fiddler on the Roof was nominated for finest image and Topol for finest actor, however The French Connection and its star Gene (*87*) prevailed on Oscar night time. Topol, nevertheless, did obtain a Golden Globe for finest actor in a comedy or musical.

His big-screen résumé additionally included Before Winter Comes (1968) and a flip reverse Mia Farrow in The Public Eye (1972), directed by Carol Reed.

Topol final portrayed Tevye on a Boston stage in 2009 however was compelled to exit the musical after struggling a shoulder harm.

A 12 months later, he based the Jordan River Village, the place kids with critical sicknesses come to have enjoyable. (His inspiration was Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall camps.) He was additionally a member of the board of administrators of Variety Israel, a nonprofit group that assists youngsters with particular wants, no matter faith, race and gender.

He acquired the prestigious Israel Prize for lifetime achievement from his authorities in 2015.

Survivors embrace his spouse, Galia, whom he married in October 1956. They had three kids, Omer, Adi and Anat.

This article initially appeared in THR.com.