Nehemiah Persoff - Biography

Nehemiah Persoff (born August 2, 1919) is an 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 watercolor. This was at a time when health problems forced him to decrease his acting workload. Now retired from acting, he is devoted full-time to his painting.

Partial filmography

• The Naked City (1954) uncredited
• On the Waterfront (1954) uncredited
• The Harder They Fall (1956)
• The Wrong Man (1956)
• Mayerling (1957, TV)
• Men in War (1957)
• The Badlanders (1958)
• Never Steal Anything Small (1959)
• Green Mansions (1959)
• Al Capone (1959)
• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Day of the Outlaw (1959)
• The Comancheros (1961)
• Thriller (US TV series) (The Fingers Of Fear) (1961)
• The Hook (1963)
• Fate Is the Hunter (1964)
• The Tenderfoot (1964) for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)
• Too Many Thieves (1966)
• Gilligans Island (1967)
• Il giorno della civetta (The Day of the Owl) (1968)
• The Power (1968)
• The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969)
• The People Next Door (1970)
• Mrs. Pollifax - Spy (1971)
• Red Sky at Morning (1971)
• Hawaii Five-O (1975)
• The Stranger Within (1974, TV)
• Battlestar Galactica (1979, TV)
• Barney Miller (1979)
• The Missiles of October (1974, TV)
• Voyage of the Damned (1976)
• St. Helens (1981)
• O'Hara's Wife (1982)
• Sadat (1983, TV)
• Yentl (1983)
• An American Tail (1986) voice
• The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
• Twins (1988)
• An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) voice
• An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) voice
• An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) voice

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External links

• Nehemiah Persoff Paintings