Nehemiah Persoff Dies: Prolific Actress of ‘Yentl’, ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘Gunsmoke’ and More Was 102 Years Old

Nehemiah Persofi, an actor taking on the role of taxi driver on the beachThe cult scene “could have been a contender” to become one of the busiest actors in television and cinema in fifty years, he died Tuesday at the San Luis Obispo Rehabilitation Center in California. He was 102 years old.

Persoph became an actor after suffering from strokes and other health issues in recent years. The date of death was reported by a family friend.

Born in Jerusalem, Palestine, Persof and his family moved to the United States in 1929 and survived World War II. In the late 1940s, he became a member of the famous Actors Studio, training under Elijah Kazan, who paid him $75 for the silent taxi driver role. ocean coast.

Persoph also played small roles in television in the early 1950s, a career that thrived in the years that followed. A small sampling of her early television roles includes shows such as: Goodyear Playhouse, Philco Television Playhouse, Adventure Meeting, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Craft Theatre, United States Steel Clock, Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presentations AND 90’s dollhouse.

The following decades starred in numerous television series, making Perseus one of the most recognizable characters of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Untouchables, Naked City, Rauhaid, Burke Law, The Great Valley, I Care, Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, Land of Giants, Disney Magic, Mod Squad, Love, American Style, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby, MD, Baretta, The Six Million Dollar Man, McCloud, Little House on the Prairie, The Word TV miniseries, Hawaii Five-0, Barney Miller, Scarecrow and Mrs. Rey, Star Trek: The Next Generation AND Chicago hope. He played Leonid Brezhnev in the 1983 mini-series. WhereAnd he retired in 2003 and did not appear as rabbi on the set of the HBO miniseries adaptation of Kushner with Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak. angels in america.

In terms of cinema, Persoph starred in Humphrey Bogart’s latest film. The harder they fall (1956) and appeared in later years A wild party, some like the biggest, hottest story ever told, The Cursed Journey AND Twins. He lent his voice to Papa Mauskevits in 1986. american tailAnd perhaps his most indelible film had Reb Mendel, the father of the main character Barbara Streisand. yentl (And the most famous theme song in the movie is “Daddy, Can You Hear Me”.)

Before Persoph came his wife, Tia, who died of cancer last year. He is survived by his children Daniel, Jeff, Perry and Dalia, several grandchildren and nephews.