Theodore Bikel
Highest Rated: 100% The Stingiest Man in Town (1978)
Lowest Rated: 0% Benefit of the Doubt (1993)
Birthday: May 2, 1924
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Internationally renowned actor and folksinger Theodore Bikel made his first stage appearance as the Village Clerk in a Tel Aviv production of "Tevye, the Milkman" and would in fact play the life-loving Tevye so many times in productions of "Fiddler on the Roof" that it became his signature role (although he claimed to have liked "Zorba!" better). After graduating from London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he won acclaim for his work in West End productions of "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1949, directed by Laurence Olivier) and "The Love of Four Colonels" (1951, directed by Peter Ustinov) before making his Broadway debut in "Tonight in Samarkand" (1955). Though he also played Robert de Baudricourt in "The Lark" that year on Broadway, a part he would reprise for the 1967 NBC "Hallmark Hall of Fame" presentation of "St. Joan" his best-known theatrical credit (aside from Tevye) is probably his creation of Captain Georg von Trapp for the Broadway production of "The Sound of Music" (1959), starring Mary Martin. Bikel's feature debut came as the First officer of the Luisa in the John Huston classic "The African Queen" (1951). He would find himself on (or under) the water again as second-in-command of the German U-boat in "The Enemy Below" (1957) and the (Soviet) Captain in Cold War farce "The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming" (1966). In fact, his facility for languages (fluent in Yiddish, Hebrew, French, German and English) helped land a plethora of international roles throughout his career. Bikel earned an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the moderate sheriff in "The Defiant Ones" (1958), and he played Russian linguist Zoltan Karpathy in the Academy Award-winning "My Fair Lady" (1964). A guest star on countless TV series, he appeared on four episodes of "Murder, She Wrote" (CBS 1984-1996) in the '80s and '90s, not to mention having recurring roles on "Dynasty" (ABC 1981-89) and "Falcon Crest" (CBS 1981-1990). He also portrayed Henry Kissinger in the ABC movie "The Final Days" (1989), based on the book by Bob Woodward. As Bikel entered his mid-'70s, his acting career slowed down to occasional small roles in films ranging from the thrillers "Shattered" (1991) and "Benefit of the Doubt" (1993) to the post-Soviet comedy "My Family Treasure" (1993) and the inspirational drama "Second Chances" (1998). He appeared as a rabbi in the science fiction hit "Babylon 5" (syndicated 1994-98) and as a farmer in the procedural drama "JAG" (CBS 1995-2005). His final screen roles came in Menahem Golan's modern-day adaptation of "Crime and Punishment" (2002) and in the Israeli drama "The Little Traitor" (2007), starring Alfred Molina. Theodore Bikel died of undisclosed natural causes on July 21, 2015 in Los Angeles. He was 91 years old.
Photos
Theodore Bikel
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
92% |
|
Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words | Rance Muhammitz (Character) | $353.8K | 2016 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem | Screenwriter | - | 2014 |
41% |
|
The Little Traitor | Security Officer (Character) | $401.5K | 2007 |
No Score Yet |
|
Crime and Punishment | Captain Koch (Character) | - | 2002 |
No Score Yet |
|
Babylon 5: In the Beginning | Lenonn (Character) | - | 1998 |
7% |
|
Shadow Conspiracy | Prof. Yuri Pochenko (Character) | $2.3M | 1997 |
0% |
|
Benefit of the Doubt | Gideon Lee (Character) | $73.3K | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | My Family Treasure | Grandpa Danieloff (Character) | - | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Crisis in the Kremlin | Leo (Character) | - | 1992 |
33% |
|
Shattered | Dr. Berkus (Character) | $11.1M | 1991 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Memories of Midnight | Georgius Lato (Character) | - | 1991 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Final Days | Henry Kissinger (Character) | - | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Christine Cromwell: Things That Go Bump in the Night | Horace (Character) | - | 1989 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Lodz Ghetto | Unknown (Voice) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels | Unknown (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet |
|
Dark Tower | Max Gold (Character) | - | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Very Close Quarters | Victor (Character) | - | 1986 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Prince Jack | Georgi (Character) | - | 1984 |
67% |
|
The Return of the King | Aragorn (Voice) | - | 1980 |
100% |
|
The Stingiest Man in Town | Unknown (Voice) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Curse of Rava/Con Caper | Mandak (Character) | - | 1978 |
No Score Yet |
|
Victory at Entebbe | Yakov Shlomo (Character) | - | 1976 |
No Score Yet |
|
Murder on Flight 502 | Otto Gruenwaldt (Character) | - | 1975 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Little Ark | The Captain (Character) | - | 1972 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Killer by Night | Sgt. Phl "Sharkey" Gold (Character) | - | 1971 |
50% |
|
200 Motels |
Rance Muhammitz/ |
- | 1971 |
No Score Yet |
|
Darker Than Amber | Meyer (Character) | - | 1970 |
71% |
|
My Side of the Mountain | Bando (Character) | - | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sweet November | Unknown (Character) | - | 1968 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sweet November | Alonzo (Character) | - | 1968 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Diary of Anne Frank | Mr Van Daan (Character) | - | 1967 |
83% |
|
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! | The Russian Captain (Character) | - | 1966 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Noon Wine | Unknown (Character) | - | 1966 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Last Chapter | Narrator | - | 1966 |
No Score Yet |
|
Sands of the Kalahari | Dr. Bondrachai (Character) | - | 1965 |
95% |
|
My Fair Lady | Zoltan Karpathy (Character) | $447.6K | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Corridor 400 | Ralph Traven (Character) | - | 1964 |
No Score Yet |
|
A Dog of Flanders | Piet van Gelder (Character) | - | 1959 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Blue Angel | Klepert (Character) | - | 1959 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Angry Hills | Dimitrios Tassos (Character) | - | 1959 |
No Score Yet |
|
Woman Obsessed | Dr. R. W. Gibbs (Character) | - | 1959 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fraulein | Col. Dmitri Bucaron (Character) | - | 1958 |
90% |
|
The Defiant Ones | Sheriff Max Muller (Character) | - | 1958 |
94% |
|
I Want to Live! | Carl G.G. Palmberg (Character) | - | 1958 |
64% |
|
I Bury the Living | Andy McKee (Character) | - | 1958 |
86% |
|
The Enemy Below | "Heinie" Schwaffer (Character) | - | 1957 |
30% |
|
The Pride and the Passion | General Jouvet (Character) | - | 1957 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Vintage | Eduardo Uribari (Character) | - | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Escape From the Iron Curtain | Kosice (Character) | - | 1957 |
80% |
|
The Colditz Story | Vandy (Character) | - | 1955 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Divided Heart | Josip Slavko (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Forbidden Cargo | Max (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Chance Meeting | Joseph (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Love Lottery | Parsimonious (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet |
|
The Little Kidnappers | Dr. Willem Bloem (Character) | - | 1954 |
No Score Yet |
|
Never Let Me Go | Lieutenant (Character) | - | 1953 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | A Day to Remember | Henri Dubot (Character) | - | 1953 |
96% |
|
The African Queen | First Officer (Character) | - | 1951 |
TV
Credit | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | JAG | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2003 |
88% | No Score Yet | Michael Hayes | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Brooklyn South | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1997 |
43% | No Score Yet | The Burning Zone | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1996 |
No Score Yet | 89% | Murder, She Wrote | Professor Harold Crenshaw (Guest Star) | 1987 1989 1991 1994 |
No Score Yet | 92% | Babylon 5 | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1994 |
No Score Yet | 83% | Law & Order | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1994 |
92% | 90% | Star Trek: The Next Generation | Sergey Rozhenko (Guest Star) | 1990 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Equalizer | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1988 |
No Score Yet | 86% | Beauty and the Beast | Eli (Guest Star) | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Super Password | Guest | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1987 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Fall Guy | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hotel | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1985 |
No Score Yet | 80% | Knight Rider | Graham Deauville (Guest Star) | 1983 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Trapper John, M.D. | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1982 |
No Score Yet | 89% | All in the Family | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1978-1979 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Fantasy Island | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1978 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Police Woman | Adamus Tarash (Guest Star) | 1978 |
No Score Yet | 81% | Columbo | Oliver Brandt (Guest Star) | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Testimony of Two Men | Unknown (Character) | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Charlie's Angels | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1977 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Little House on the Prairie | Yuli Pyatakov (Guest Star) | 1976 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mod Squad | Max Kalatsis (Guest Star) | 1973 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Cannon | Mike Tampa (Guest Star) | 1972 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | What's My Line? | Guest | 1969 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Trials of O'Brien | Ben Moravian (Guest Star) | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Gunsmoke | Martin Kellums (Guest Star) | 1965 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Rawhide | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Combat! | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1964 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | East Side/West Side | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1963 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Route 66 | Dr. Anton Koseloff (Guest Star) | 1962 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Dr. Kildare | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1962 |
92% | 96% | The Twilight Zone | Oliver Crangle (Character) | 1962 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Wagon Train | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1962 |
No Score Yet | 87% | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Sergeant Ottermole (Character) | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Climax! | Unknown (Character) | 1957 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Alcoa Hour | Il vecchio (Character) | 1956 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The United States Steel Hour | Fritz Gerhardy (Character) | 1955 |