Chaim Topol, actor known for `Fiddler's' Tevye
Chaim Topol, a leading Israeli actor who charmed generations of theatergoers and moviewatchers with his portrayal of Tevye, the long-suffering and charismatic milkman in “Fiddler on the Roof,” has died in Tel Aviv, Israeli leaders said Thursday. He was 87. The cause was not immediately released.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Topol's “contribution to Israeli culture will continue to exist for generations.”
A recipient of two Golden Globe awards and nominee for both an Academy Award and a Tony Award, Topol long has ranked among Israel's most decorated actors. More recently in 2015, he was celebrated for his contributions to film and culture with the Israel
Prize for lifetime achievement, his country's most prestigious honor. Up until a few years ago, he remained involved in theater and said he still fielded requests to play Tevye.
Topol got his start in acting in a theatrical troupe in the Israeli army in the 1950s, where he met his future wife Galia. His first major breakthrough was the lead role in the 1964 hit Israeli film “Sallah Shabati,” about the hardships of Middle Eastern immigrants to Israel. The film made history as the first Israeli film to earn an Academy Award nomination and also gave Topol his first Golden Globe Award.
Two years later, he made his English-language film debut alongside Kirk Douglas in “Cast a Giant Shadow.” But the role of his life arrived in the longrunning
musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” in which he played the dairyman protagonist, Tevye, a Jewish father trying to maintain his family's cultural traditions despite the turmoil gripping their Russian shtetl.
With his rich voice, folkish witticisms and commanding stage presence, Topol's Tevye, driving his horse-drawn buggy and delivering milk, butter and eggs to the rich, became a popular hero in Israel and around the world.
After years of playing Tevye
on stage in London and on Broadway, he scored the lead role in the 1971 Norman Jewison-directed film version, winning the Golden Globe for lead actor and being nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award. He lost out to Gene Hackman in “The French Connection.”
In an interview with The Associated Press in 2015, on the occasion of accepting the Israel prize for lifetime achievement, Topol traced his rise from modest beginnings to fame.
“I wasn't brought up in Hollywood. I was brought up in a kibbutz,” he said. “Sometimes I am surprised when I come to China or when I come to Tokyo or when I come to France or when I come wherever and the clerk at the immigration says `Topol, Topol, are you Topol?”