Zero Mostel
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Zero Mostel (February 25, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was a Tony Award-winning stage actor. He was born Samuel Joel Mostel.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in the 1950s, he was blacklisted on account of his leftist political beliefs, which he later drew upon for his role as Hecky Brown in the film, The Front.
In 1962, his career recovered with his Tony Award winning performance in the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (a role he reprised in the 1966 film version). In 1964, he joined the original cast of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof, for which he won a Tony in 1965.
Mostel won an Obie Award for his 1958 role as Leopold Bloom in Ulysses in Nighttown, a stage adaptation by Marjorie Barkentin of James Joyce's novel Ulysses. He reprised his role in 1974. His most famous film role was probably as Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' The Producers (1968).
He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Front, the 1976 film with Woody Allen that presented one perspective of the blacklisting period in Hollywood.
He guest-appeared on The Muppet Show, and has the macabre distinction of being the only guest to die before their episode aired. His last film appearance was as the voice of Kehaar in the animated adaptation of Watership Down.
He married Kathryn Harkin on July 2, 1944, and they had two sons: Josh Mostel, also a film actor, born 1946, and Tobias, born 1949.
Stage Appearances
- Cafe Crown (1942) (made some impromptu appearances on stage, but wasn't officialy part of cast.)
- Keep 'em Laughing (1942)
- Top-Notchers (1942)
- Concert Varieties (1945)
- Beggar's Holiday (1946)
- Flight Into Egypt (1952)
- Lunatics and Lovers (1954) (replaced Buddy Hackett during his vacation)
- Good as Gold (1957)
- Ulyssed in Nighttown (1958)
- The Good Soup (1960) (was replaced before opening by Jules Munshin due to an accident which broke his leg)
- Rhinoceros (1961)
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962)
- Fiddler on the Roof (1964)
- Ulysses in Nighttown (1974) (revival)
- Fiddler on the Roof (1976) (revival)
Filmography
- Du Barry Was a Lady (1943)
- Panic in the Streets (1950)
- The Enforcer (1951)
- Sirocco (1951)
- Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell (1951)
- The Guy Who Came Back (1951)
- The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)
- A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
- Children of the Exodus (1967) (short subject) (narrator)
- The Producers (1968)
- Great Catherine (1968)
- The Great Bank Robbery (1969)
- The Angel Levine (1970)
- The Hot Rock (1972)
- Once Upon a Scoundrel (1973)
- Marco (1973)
- Rhinoceros (1974)
- Fore Play (1975)
- Journey Into Fear (1975)
- Mastermind (1976)
- The Front (1976)
- Hollywood on Trial (1976) (documentary)
- Watership Down (1978) (voice)
- Best Boy (1979) (documentary)
External links
- IMDB.com entry for Zero Mostel (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0609216/)de:Zero Mostel