Nehemiah Persoff
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1919-08-02
Day of Death
2022-04-05 (102 years old)
Place of Birth
Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate
Nehemiah Persoff
Biography
Nehemiah Persoff (born August 2, 1919) was a former American film and television character actor. He was born in Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate.
Born in what is now part of Israel, Persoff emigrated with his family 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").
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.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Nehemiah Persoff, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known For
Acting
(2022)
Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story
as Self - Interviewee
(2012)
(2001)
(1999)
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster
as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
(1998)
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island
as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
(1991)
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
(1988)
Twins
as Mitchell Traven
(1988)
The Last Temptation of Christ
as Rabbi
(1986)
An American Tail
as Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
(1983)
Yentl
as Rebbe Mendel
(1982)
St. Helens
as Mr. Ellison
(1982)
O'Hara's Wife
as Dr. Fischer
(1980)
F.D.R.: The Last Year
as Josef Stalin
(1980)
The Henderson Monster
as Prof. Leo Tedeschi
(1980)
Turnover Smith
as Ashmed Amad
(1979)
The Rebels
as Baron Von Steuben
(1979)
In Search of Historic Jesus
as Herod Antipas
(1979)
A Cry For Justice
as Dr. Burke
(1978)
(1978)
Killing Stone
as Earl Stone
(1978)
Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women
as Charles Frohman
(1978)
Daniel in the Lions' Den
as Malimar
(1978)
(1977)
Deadly Harvest
as Mort Logan
(1976)
Voyage of the Damned
as Herr Hauser
(1976)
(1975)
Eric
as Dr. Duchesnes
(1975)
Psychic Killer
as Doctor Gubner
(1974)
The Stranger Within
as Dr. Edward Klein
(1974)
The Sex Symbol
as Nick Fortis
(1973)
Dracula
as Dr. Van Helsing
(1972)
Lieutenant Schuster's Wife
as Champagne Joe Carroll
(1972)
Michael O'Hara the Fourth
as Artie Moreno
(1972)
(1971)
Mrs. Pollifax — Spy
as Berisha
(1971)
Red Sky at Morning
as Amadeo Montoya
(1970)
The People Next Door
as Dr. Salazar
(1970)
Cutter's Trail
as Santillo
(1969)
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
as Lieutenant Crawford
(1968)
The Day of the Owl
as Pizzuco
(1968)
The Power
as Prof. Carl Melnicker
(1968)
Panic in the City
as August Best
(1968)
Escape to Mindanao
as Capt. Kramer
(1968)
The Treasure of San Bosco Reef
as Captain Malcione
(1967)
The Money Jungle
as Lt. Dow Reeves
(1966)
Too Many Thieves
as Georgi
(1966)
(1965)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
as Shemiah
(1964)
Fate Is the Hunter
as Ben Sawyer
(1964)
A Global Affair
as Under Secretary Segura
(1963)
The Hook
as Capt. Van Ryn
(1961)
The Comancheros
as Graile
(1961)
The Big Show
as Bruno Everard
(1959)
Some Like It Hot
as Little Bonaparte
(1959)
Day of the Outlaw
as Dan, Starret's Foreman
(1959)
Al Capone
as Johnny Torrio
(1959)
Green Mansions
as Don Panta
(1959)
Never Steal Anything Small
as Pinelli
(1959)
The Killers of Mussolini
as Benito Mussolini
(1959)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
as Pablo
(1958)
The Badlanders
as Vincente (The Powder Monkey)
(1957)
Men in War
as Sgt. Lewis
(1957)
This Angry Age
as Albert Legros
(1957)
Mayerling
as Police Officer
(1957)
The Death of Manolete
as Camera
(1957)
Street of Sinners
as Leon
(1956)
The Harder They Fall
as Leo
(1956)
The Wrong Man
as Gene Conforti
(1956)
The Wild Party
as Kicks Johnson
(1955)
The Thief
as D'Arnault-Olivier
(1954)
On the Waterfront
as Cab Driver (uncredited)
(1953)
Marty
as The Critic