Nehemiah Persoff
Actor
- Born
- August 2, 1919 · Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate
- Died
- April 5, 2022 (age 102)
Nehemiah Persoff was an American film and television actor. Persoff emigrated with his family from Palestine to the United States in 1929. He began to take an interest in acting in the 1940s, and after serving in the Army during World War II, he began to pursue his acting career in the New York Theater. In 1947, he was accepted into the Actor's Studio and eventually began appearing in films.
His film credits include: On the Waterfront, Some Like It Hot, Al Capone, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Voyage of the Damned, The Comancheros, Yentl (portraying Barbra Streisand's character's father), Twins and the American Tail (animated-film series) (voiced, "Papa Mousekewitz").
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Persoff appeared in such television series as, Five Fingers ("The Moment of Truth"), The Big Valley ("Legend of a General", Parts I & II, episode), The Twilight Zone ("Judgment Night" episode), Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Heart of Gold" episode), The Untouchables, Naked City, The Legend of Jesse James, Gunsmoke, The Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of the Pharaoh's Curse" episode), Mission: Impossible (3 episodes), Adam-12 ("Vendetta" episode), Charlie's Angels, Hunter, Columbo, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Magnum, P.I., Law & Order and Chicago Hope.
In the mid-1980s, Persoff began to pursue painting, specializing in watercolour. This was at a time when health problems forced him to decrease his acting workload.
Known for
Some Like It Hot
March 19, 1959
Twins
December 9, 1988
On the Waterfront
June 22, 1954
An American Tail
November 21, 1986
The Last Temptation of Christ
May 28, 1988
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
November 21, 1991
The Wrong Man
December 22, 1956
Yentl
November 18, 1983
The Greatest Story Ever Told
April 9, 1965
The Comancheros
December 16, 1961
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island
February 15, 1998
The Harder They Fall
May 8, 1956
Acting71
- 2022Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story as Self - Interviewee
- 2012Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom as Self
- 20014 Faces
- 1999An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
- 1998An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
- 1991An American Tail: Fievel Goes West as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
- 1988Twins as Mitchell Traven
- 1988The Last Temptation of Christ as Rabbi
- 1986An American Tail as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
- 1983