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Theodore Bikel

 
American Theater Guide: Theodore [Meir] Bikel
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Bikel, Theodore [Meir] (b. 1924), actor. Born in Vienna and educated locally and in Tel Aviv, Bikel trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London then returned to present‐day Israel to act. Bikel performed in London before making his Broadway debut in 1955. His most significant New York performances were Joan of Arc's ally Robert de Beaudricourt in The Lark (1955), the well‐meaning Jewish doctor Jacobson in The Rope Dancers (1957), the stern Austrian Captain refuting the Nazis in The Sound of Music (1959), and the aged Holocaust survivor Gabe in The Gathering (1999). The internationally acclaimed folk singer also performed in concerts on three continents and played Tevye in road companies of Fiddller on the Roof. Autobiography: Theo, 2002.

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Artist: Theodore Bikel
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Biography

A talented folksinger and actor, Theodore Bikel has carved out his place in the modern entertainment industry as a renaissance man. For over 50 years, Bikel has impacted film, the stage, and the arts, from his supporting role in The African Queen in 1951 to his appearance at the 1960 Newport Folk Festival to his appointment to the National Council for the Arts in 1977. Although he was born in Austria, he has lived in Israel, England, and the United States and speaks five languages. Bikel has recorded for Elektra, Columbia, and Reprise, published Folksongs & Footnotes, and served as a vice president of the American Jewish Congress.

Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1924, but his family fled to Palestine in 1938, where they became British subjects. Bikel wanted to study language and become a teacher, so he worked at a communal farm to help pay expenses. Drawn to the theater, however, he left the farm in 1943 to study at the Hamimah Theater in Tel Aviv. Later, Bikel and four other actors formed the Tel Aviv Chamber Theater. In 1946, he left Israel to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. While in England, he also began to take a serious interest in folk music and learn the guitar. In 1947, Bikel's acting skills were noticed by Sir Laurence Olivier, leading to a part in the London production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

By the early '50s, Bikel began to play Russian officers and German sailors in English and American films and in 1955, he moved to New York City. The move also coincided with the beginning of a career in folk music. He signed with Elektra Records in the mid-'50s and recorded Israeli Folk Songs in 1955. He became a co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival and performed at the event in 1960. Bikel's repertoire proved uniquely eclectic, including songs from Russia, Eastern Europe, and Israel. He played hundreds of dates in United States, from the Rainbow & Stars in New York to The Boarding House in San Francisco, and traveled broadly, performing in New Zealand, Australia, and throughout Europe.

Over the next 40 years, Bikel continued his dual career in film and folk music. He received parts in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming in 1966, See You in the Morning in 1989, and Shadow Conspiracy in 1997. He recorded Songs of the Earth for Elektra in 1967, A New Day on Reprise in 1970, and A Taste of Passover for Rounder in 1998. Bikel also involved himself in a number of political activities. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Bikel to the National Council for the Arts, a position he retained until 1982. He has also served with the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, Americans for the Arts, and the American Jewish Congress. In 1992, Bikel received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Hartford. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide

Discography

A Taste of Chanukah

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Actor: Theodore Bikel
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Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: May 02, 1924 in Vienna, Austria
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '50s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Drama
  • Career Highlights: I Want to Live!, The African Queen, I Bury the Living
  • First Major Screen Credit: The African Queen (1951)

Biography

Though he has logged many impressive credits as an actor, Vienna-born Theodore Bikel prefers to think of himself -- and bill himself -- as a folksinger. Emigrating to Palestine in the 1930s, Bikel supported himself with his music, and also acted with Tel Aviv's Habimah Theatre in Sholem Alecheim's Tevye the Milkman. A quick study in several languages, Bikel honed his acting skills with Britain's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Three years after his London stage debut, Bikel made his first film, playing a German naval officer (the first of many villainous roles) in The African Queen (1951). In 1958, he was nominated for an Oscar for his supporting appearance in The Defiant Ones. One year later, he costarred with Mary Martin on Broadway, originating the role of Captain Von Trapp in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music. Active in many political causes ranging from Jewish relief to the Democratic Party, Bikel served as president of Actor's Equity from 1973 until 1982. In a mid-1980s interview, Theodore Bikel noted with amusement that, in spite of his many stage and screen appearances, many fans remembered him best for his brief unsympathetic appearance as a Russian officer in the otherwise forgettable 1957 film Fraulein. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Wikipedia: Theodore Bikel
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Theodore Bikel
Born Theodore Meir Bikel
May 2, 1924 (1924-05-02) (age 85)
Vienna, Austria
Occupation Film, television actor
Years active 1951-present
Spouse(s) Ofra Ichilov (1942 - 1943) (divorced)
Rita Weinberg Call (1967-2007) (divorced) 2 children
Tamara Brooks (2008-present)

Theodore Meir Bikel (born May 2, 1924) is an Academy Award- and Tony Award-nominated character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen (1951) and was nominated for an Academy award for his role as the Southern Sheriff in The Defiant Ones (1958).

Contents

Life and career

Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Miriam (née Riegler) and Josef Bikel from Bukovina.[1] His family fled to Palestine following the Nazi occupation of Austria. In Palestine, Bikel started acting while in his teens. He co-founded the Cameri Theatre there—which has gone on to become one of Israel's biggest theaters—before moving to London to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1945.[2] 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.[3] 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.

After several plays and films in Europe, Bikel moved to the United States in 1954, and became a naturalized citizen in 1961. 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). 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. 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 (2094 times to date).

In the 1950s, Bikel produced and sang in 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 and George Wein) in 1959. In 1962, he heard Bob Dylan give his premiere performance of "Blowin' in the Wind". Bikel then went to his scheduled performance and became the first singer besides Dylan to perform the song in public. Bikel (with partner Herb Cohen) opened the first folk music coffeehouse in L.A., 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.[4]

In addition to scores of appearances on film and on the stage, Bikel was a guest star on many popular television shows since the 1960s, including The Twilight Zone, Wagon Train, Hawaii Five-0, Columbo, Charlie's Angels, Little House on the Prairie, Mission: Impossible, Dynasty, Knight Rider, 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 adopted father of Worf, who, as a petty officer on the Starfleet vessel Intrepid, had found Worf at the site of the Khitomer Massacre and taken him home to raise as his son. Bikel performed two roles in the Babylon 5 universe. The first was as Rabbi Koslov in the first season episode "TKO". He later appeared in the TV movie Babylon 5: In the Beginning as Anla'Shok leader Lenonn.

Theodore made a most memorable guest appearance in the 1992 PBS special, Chanukkah at Grover's Corner. Bikel made latkes with a talking puppet named "Mozart" and wore a pink sweater, much to the delight of "Terry A La Berry".

Bikel is President of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, and was president of Actors' Equity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. U.S. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to serve on the National Council for the Arts in 1977 for a six year term. On January 28, 2007, he was elected to serve as Chair of the Board of Directors of Meretz USA.[5] Bikel is also a lecturer. Bikel's autobiography Theo was published in 1995 by Harper Collins, and re-issued in an updated version by the University of Wisconsin Press in 2002.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/96/Theodore-Bikel.html
  2. ^ Renowned actor and folk singer Theodore Bikel and conductor Tamara Brooks to visit Vassar College as Artists in Residence. February 10-18, 2008 - College Relations - Vassar Co...
  3. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=BbCxPhC2P_cC&pg=PA56&dq=%22Theodore+Bikel%22+%22Laurence+Olivier%22&sig=ACfU3U3iGMVUCqZwTxpjQKY4nXHm_HIpWg#PPA58,M1
  4. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=BbCxPhC2P_cC&pg=RA2-PT57&dq=%22Theodore+Bikel%22+%22civil+rights%22&sig=ACfU3U1-r-bcAPS78AKsrJ_H1WvXtejJ8w
  5. ^ http://www.meretzusa.org/sections/about/who-we-are

External links

See also: Bikel

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American Theater Guide. The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. Copyright © 2004 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Theodore Bikel".  Read more