{"id":25118,"date":"2015-07-21T20:11:23","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T02:11:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=25118"},"modified":"2015-08-24T19:30:44","modified_gmt":"2015-08-25T01:30:44","slug":"theodore-bikel-tevye-in-fiddler-on-the-roof-dies-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/theodore-bikel-tevye-in-fiddler-on-the-roof-dies-at-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Theodore Bikel, Tevye in &#8216;Fiddler on the Roof,&#8217; dies at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By JTA STAFF<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 Theodore Bikel, an actor and folk singer who was recognized in 1997 with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, has died at 91.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25119\" style=\"width: 178px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25119\" class=\"wp-image-25119 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2-168x300.jpg\" alt=\"&lt;&gt; at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 25, 2013 in Hollywood, California.\" width=\"168\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2-168x300.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2-574x1024.jpg 574w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2.jpg 880w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 168px) 100vw, 168px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 168px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 168\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25119\" class=\"wp-image-25119 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2-168x300.jpg\" alt=\"&lt;&gt; at TCL Chinese Theatre on April 25, 2013 in Hollywood, California.\" width=\"168\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2-168x300.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2-574x1024.jpg 574w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/Bikel-2.jpg 880w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 168px) 100vw, 168px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-25119\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Theodore Bikel attending a film festival in Hollywood, California, April 25, 2013. (Frederick M. Brown\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bikel, who won fame playing Tevye in \u201cFiddler on the Roof,\u201d doing more performances of the role than any other actor, died Tuesday morning of natural causes at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/news\/theodore-bikel-dead-sound-music-719735\" target=\"_blank\">Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Vienna, Bikel fled Austria at age 13 with his family after the 1938 Nazi Anschluss. The family settled in prestate Palestine, and in 1946 Bikel went to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatics Arts.<\/p>\n<p>In his autobiography, <a href=\"http:\/\/variety.com\/2015\/film\/news\/theodore-bikel-fiddler-on-the-roof-star-dies-at-91-1201544826\/\" target=\"_blank\">according to Variety,<\/a> he expressed regret about not returning to Israel to fight in the 1948 War of Independence: \u201cA few of my contemporaries regarded what I did as a character flaw, if not a downright act of desertion. In me, there remains a small, still voice, that asks whether I can ever fully acquit myself in my own mind.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bikel moved to the United States in 1954 to appear on Broadway in \u201cTonight in Samarkand,\u201d becoming a U.S. citizen in 1961. Also on Broadway, he played Captain Georg Von Trapp in the first Broadway production of \u201cThe Sound of Music.\u201d During his career, Bikel appeared on stage, film and television in musicals, dramas and comedies.<\/p>\n<p>In 1958 he was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in \u201cThe Defiant Ones,\u201d and in 1959 he co-founded the Newport Folk Festival with Pete Seeger and George Wein.<\/p>\n<p>Along with\u00a0his arts work, Bikel was active in many left-wing causes, from the civil rights movement to the\u00a0anti-apartheid movement in South Africa to the Soviet Jewry movement to progressive Zionism and the Democratic Party. He was a longtime board member of the American Jewish Congress.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jta.org\/2010\/09\/06\/news-opinion\/israel-middle-east\/u-s-television-film-artists-join-west-bank-boycott\" target=\"_blank\">In 2010,<\/a> he was one of more than 150 American artists to sign a letter in support of Israeli actors boycotting performances in the West Bank settlement of Ariel.<\/p>\n<p>Bikel also was a labor activist, serving as president of Actors Equity Association for 11 years and as the longtime president of the AFL-CIO-affiliated Actors &amp; Artistes of America, <a href=\"http:\/\/deadline.com\/2015\/07\/theodore-bikel-dead-actor-union-activist-1201482931\/\" target=\"_blank\">according to Deadline Hollywood<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2007 interview with Hadassah Magazine, Bikel linked his activism to his experience living through the Anschluss, the Nazi invasion of Austria in 1938.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><span class=\"\">&#8220;It became clear that I would never ever put myself in the place of the nice people next door who said \u2018It\u2019s not my fight,'&#8221; he said. &#8220;It\u2019s always my fight. Whenever I see an individual or group singled out for persecution, there\u2019s a switch thrown in my mind \u2014 and they become Jews.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Tevye was not Bikel\u2019s only Jewish role. In 2007 he was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for outstanding solo performance in \u201cSholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears.\u201d And in 2014, Bikel produced and starred in the documentary &#8220;Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, at an event marking\u00a0the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.jta.org\/2013\/11\/06\/news-opinion\/world\/austrian-government-honors-theodore-bikel-on-kristallnacht-anniversary\" target=\"_blank\">Austrian government honored<\/a> Bikel with its highest honor in the arts.As a finale, Bikel asked the distinguished audience to rise, as he sang the Song of the Partisans in Yiddish.<\/p>\n<p>Many of Bikel\u2019s 27 albums featured Hebrew and Yiddish folk music \u2014\u00a0two languages that he spoke fluently, along with German, French and English. In a 2013 interview, he said that of all his accomplishments\u00a0he was proudest of \u201cpresenting the songs of my people, songs of pain and songs of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the same interview, Bikel said he had planned the inscription for his tombstone \u2013 \u201cHe Was the Singer of His People\u201d \u2013 in Yiddish.<\/p>\n<p><em>(JTA correspondent Tom Tugend contributed to this article.)<\/em><\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Theodore%20Bikel%2C%20Tevye%20in%20%27Fiddler%20on%20the%20Roof%2C%27%20dies%20at%2091\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7139,7122],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25120,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25118\/revisions\/25120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}