Theodore Bikel

Theodore Meir Bikel May 2 1924 – July 21 2015 Was An Austrian-American Actor Folk Singer Musician And Composer. In The 1950s Bikel Produced Several Albums Of Jewish Folk Songs As Well As Songs Of A Russian Gypsy In 1958. He Was A Co-Founder Of The Newport Folk Festival Together With Pete Seeger Oscar Brand And George Wein In 1959. In 1962 Bikel Became The First Singer Besides Dylan To Perform "Blowin' In The Wind" In Public. Bikel With Business Partner Herb Cohen Opened The First Folk Music Coffeehouse In Los Angeles The Unicorn. Its Popularity Led To The Two Opening A Second Club Cosmo Alley Which In Addition To Folk Music Presented Poets Such As Maya Angelou And Comics Including Lenny Bruce. Bikel Became Increasingly Involved With Civil Rights Issues And Progressive Causes And Was A Delegate To The 1968 Democratic Convention. He Made His Film Debut In The African Queen 1951 And Was Nominated For An Academy Award For His Supporting Role As Sheriff Max Muller In The Defiant Ones 1958 . Theodore Bikel Was Born In Vienna Austria The Son Of Miriam Née Riegler And Josef Bikel From Bukovina. As An Active Zionist His Father Named Him After Theodor Herzl The Founder Of Modern Zionism. Following The German Union With Austria In 1938 Bikel's Family Fled To Mandatory Palestine Where His Father's Contacts Helped The Family Obtain British Passports. Bikel Studied At The Mikve Yisrael Agricultural School And Joined Kibbutz Kfar HaMaccabi. Bikel Started Acting While In His Teens. He Performed With Habimah Theater And Was One Of The Founding Members Of The Cameri Theatre Which Became A Leading Israeli Theater Company. 4 In 1945 He Moved To London To Study At The Royal Academy Of Dramatic Art. Bikel Moved To The United States In 1954 And Became A Naturalized Citizen In 1961. Bikel Has Been Married Four Times. He Married Ofra Ichilov In 1942. They Divorced The Following Year. His Second Marriage Was In 1967 To Rita Weinberg Call With Whom He Has Two Children. They Divorced In 2008. He Married Conductor Tamara Brooks Later That Year. She Died In 2012. He Married Aimee Ginsburg December 29 2013. In 1948 Michael Redgrave Recommended Bikel To His Friend Laurence Olivier As Understudy For The Parts Of Both Stanley Kowalski And Mitch In The West End Premiere Of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. Bikel Graduated From Understudy To Star Opposite The Director's Wife Vivien Leigh Who Would Go On To Recreate Her Role As Blanche DuBois In The Film Version Opposite Marlon Brando. He Was The U-Boat First Officer To Curt Jürgens In The Enemy Below 1957 And Played The Captain Of The Russian Submarine In The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming 1966 . He Also Portrayed The Sadistic General Jouvet In The Pride And The Passion 1957 Bikel Was Screentested For The Role Of Auric Goldfinger In The James Bond Film Goldfinger 1964 . The Screentest Can Be Seen On The "Ultimate Edition" DVD Released In 2006. Bikel Also Appeared In Frank Zappa's 1971 Film 200 Motels. On Broadway He Originated The Role Of Captain Von Trapp In The Sound Of Music In 1959 For Which He Received His Second Tony Nomination. Bikel Did Not Like His Role In The Sound Of Music Because His Ability To Sing Was Limited In The Play And He Did Not Like To Perform Repeatedly The Same Role Of The Captain. The Song "Edelweiss" Was Created Spontaneously During The Final Try-Outs Off-Broadway When It Was Realized That Bikel An Experienced Folk Singer Acting As Captain Von Trapp Had No Song Of His Own. Later Many People In Theatre Audiences Claimed They Remembered Hearing "Edelweiss" As A Traditional Folk Song. In 1964 He Played Zoltan Karpathy The Dialect Expert In The Film Version Of My Fair Lady. Since His First Appearance As Tevye In The Musical Fiddler On The Roof In 1967 Bikel Has Performed The Role More Often Than Any Other Actor More Than 2 000 Times To Date . When An Injury Required 74-Year-Old Fellow Israeli Performer Chaim Topol Veteran Of Many Productions Of The Stage Show And Star Of The Motion Picture Of Fiddler On The Roof To Withdraw From A High-Budget Much-Promoted 2009 North American Tour Of The Musical Bikel Substituted For Him In Several Appearances In 2010. Bikel Was A Guest Star On Many Popular Television Shows. He Appeared In An Episode Of The 1954 NBC Legal Drama Justice Based On Cases From The Legal Aid Society Of New York. He Also Appeared In The Episode Entitled "The Faithful Pilgrimage" Of CBS's Appointment With Adventure Anthology Series. The Particular Episode Was Written By Rod Serling. He Also Appeared In A Second Episode Of Appointment With Adventure Entitled "Return Of The Stranger." Later Bikel Guest Starred On Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone Episode "Four O'Clock" As Oliver Crangle . He Appeared On Episodes Of Wagon Train Hawaii Five-O Columbo Charlie's Angels The San Pedro Beach Bums Cannon Little House On The Prairie Mission Impossible Gunsmoke Dynasty All In The Family Knight Rider Murder She Wrote And Law & Order. He Appeared On The Game Show Super Password As A Celebrity Guest In 1988. In The Early 1990s He Appeared On Star Trek The Next Generation In The Episode "Family" Playing Sergey Rozhenko The Russian-Born Adoptive Father Of Worf. Bikel Performed Two Roles In The Babylon 5 Universe In 1994 As Rabbi Koslov In The First Season Episode "TKO" And In 1998 As Ranger Leader Lenonn In The TV Movie Babylon 5 In The Beginning. In February 2012 Bikel Played The Title Role In Visiting Mr. Green With The Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company In Toronto Ontario. In May 2013 Journey 4 Artists A Documentary Produced And Directed By Michele Noble Featuring Theodore Bikel Tamara Brooks Merima Kljućo And Shura Lipovsky Which Celebrates The Power Of Music And Religious Diversity Premiered At Academy Award Winning Producer Branko Lustig's 7th Annual Jewish Festival Of Tolerance In Zagreb Croatia. Public Positions In 1962 Bikel Co-Founded Actors Federal Credit Union. He Was President Of Actors' Equity In The Late 1970s And Early 1980s In Which Office He Supported Human Rights. At The 1977 AFL–CIO Convention Bikel Welcomed The Russian Dissident Vladimir Bukovsky Upon His Release From The Soviet Union. 7 US President Jimmy Carter Appointed Him To Serve On The National Council For The Arts In 1977 For A Six-Year Term. Citation Needed On January 28 2007 He Agreed To Serve As Chair Of The Board Of Directors Of Meretz USA Now Partners For Progressive Israel . He Is A Member Of The High IQ Collective Mensa International. Bikel Has Been President Of The Associated Actors And Artistes Of America Since 1988. Published Works His Autobiography Theo Was Published In 1995 By Harper Collins And Re-Issued In An Updated Version By The University Of Wisconsin Press In 2002 And 2014. Awards And Recognition 1959 Academy Award Nomination For Flucht In Ketten The Defiant Ones 1992 Honorary Doctorate Of The University Of Hartford
1997 Lifetime Achievement Award From The National Foundation For Jewish Culture
2008 Golden Rathausmann Of Vienna November 27 2009 Austrian Cross Of Honour For Science And Art 1st Class November 15 Discography Israeli Folk Songs 1955 Elektra
An Actor’s Holiday 1958 Elektra
Folk Songs Of Israel 1958 Elektra
A Young Man And A Maid With Cynthia Gooding 1958 Elektra
Theodore Bikel Sings Jewish Folk Songs 1958 Elektra
Songs Of A Russian Gypsy 1958 Elektra
Folk Songs From Just About Everywhere With Geula Gill 1959 Elektra
More Jewish Folk Songs 1959 Elektra
Bravo Bikel! Live From Carnegie Hall 1959 Elektra
Songs Of Russia Old And New 1960 Elektra
The Sound Of Music Original Broadway Cast 1960 Columbia Records
From Bondage To Freedom 1961 Elektra
A Harvest Of Israeli Folk Songs 1962 Elektra
The Poetry And Prophesy Of The Old Testament 1962 Elektra
The Best Of Bikel 1962 Elektra
Theodore Bikel On Tour 1963 Elektra
A Folksinger’s Choice 1964 Elektra
The King And I 1964 Columbia Records
Yiddish Theatre And Folk Songs 1967 Elektra
Songs Of The Earth With The Pennywhistlers 1967 Elektra
Theodore Bikel Is Tevye 1968 Elektra
A New Day 1970 Reprise Records
Silent No More Soviet Jewish Underground 1972 Star Records
Theodore Bikel For The Young 1973 Peter Pan Records
Theodore Bikel Sings Jewish Holiday Songs 1987 Yiddish Theatre & Folk Songs CD Reissue 1991 Bainbridge Records
A Passover Story 1991 Western Wind
A Chanukkah Story 1992 Western Wind
Songs Of A Russian Gypsy CD Reissue 1992 Bainbridge Records
Theodore Bikel Sings Jewish Folk Songs CD Reissue 1992 Bainbridge Records
Theodore Bikel Sings More Jewish Folk Songs CD Reissue 1992 Bainbridge Records
Rise Up And Fight–Songs Of Jewish Partisans 1996 Holocaust Museum
A Taste Of Passover 1998 Rounder Records
A Taste Of Chanukkah 2000 Rounder Records
In My Own Lifetime 2006 Jewish Music Group
Our Song With Alberto Mizrahi 2007 Opus Magica Musica Filmography The African Queen 1951 Moulin Rouge 1952 Never Let Me Go 1953 A Day To Remember 1953 The Little Kidnappers 1953 The Love Lottery 1954 Betrayed 1954 Uncredited The Divided Heart 1954 The Young Lovers 1954 The Colditz Story 1955 Above Us The Waves 1955 The Vintage 1957 The Pride And The Passion 1957 The Enemy Below 1957 Fräulein 1958 I Bury The Living 1958 The Defiant Ones 1958 I Want To Live! 1958 Woman Obsessed 1959 The Angry Hills 1959 The Blue Angel 1959 A Dog Of Flanders 1959 My Fair Lady 1964 Combat Mountain Man 1964 TV Sands Of The Kalahari 1965 The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming 1966 Sweet November 1968 My Side Of The Mountain 1969 Darker Than Amber As Meyer 1970 200 Motels 1971 Victory At Entebbe 1976 TV Columbo The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case 1977 TV The Stingiest Man In Town 1978 TV Voice The Return Of The King 1980 Voice See You In The Morning 1989 The Final Days 1989 TV Shattered 1991 Shadow Conspiracy 1997 Second Chances 1998 Crime And Punishment 2002 read less