47 Facts About Theodore Bikel

Theodore Meir Bikel was an American actor, folk singer, musician, composer, unionist, and political activist.

Theodore Bikel made his stage debut in Tevye the Milkman in Tel Aviv, Israel, when he was in his teens.

Theodore Bikel later studied acting at Britain's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and made his London stage debut in 1948 and in New York in 1955.

Theodore Bikel was a widely recognized and recorded folk singer and guitarist.

In 1969, Bikel began acting and singing on stage as Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, a role he performed more often than any other actor to date.

Theodore Bikel was president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America until 2014, and was president of Actors' Equity in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Theodore Bikel served as the chairman of the board of directors of Partners for Progressive Israel, where he lectured.

Theodore Bikel was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, the son of Miriam and Josef Bikel, from Bukovina.

Theodore Bikel studied at the Mikve Yisrael agricultural school and joined Kibbutz Kfar HaMaccabi.

Theodore Bikel performed with Habimah Theatre in 1943, and was one of the founding members of the Cameri Theatre, which became a leading Israeli theatre company.

Theodore Bikel described his acting experience there as similar to, if not better than, the method acting techniques taught at the Actors Studio in New York.

Theodore Bikel played the lead role in 1956 English film drama, 'Flight from Vienna'.

Theodore Bikel graduated from supporting actor and understudy, though, to star opposite the director's wife, Vivien Leigh, with a sudden, unplanned performance when a co-star, playing the role of Mitch, came down with a case of flu.

Theodore Bikel showed up backstage and went directly to Leigh's dressing room to ask if she wanted to rehearse with him, to make sure he was right for the role.

Theodore Bikel replied that she did not need to: "Go and do it," she said.

Theodore Bikel portrayed the sadistic General Jouvet in The Pride and the Passion, and was screen tested for the role of Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger, though the part ultimately fell to German actor Gert Frobe.

Theodore Bikel made his Broadway debut in 1955 in Tonight in Samarkand, and in 1958 was nominated for a Tony for The Rope Dancers.

Theodore Bikel did not like his role because his ability to sing was underused; neither did he like performing the same role of the captain repeatedly.

Theodore Bikel was a guest star on many popular television series.

Theodore Bikel appeared in an episode of the 1954 NBC legal drama Justice based on cases from the Legal Aid Society of New York.

Theodore Bikel appeared in the episode entitled "The Faithful Pilgrimage" of CBS's Appointment with Adventure anthology series.

Theodore Bikel appeared in a second episode of Appointment with Adventure entitled "Return of the Stranger".

Theodore Bikel appeared in an acting role in Frank Zappa's experimental film 200 Motels.

Theodore Bikel later guest-starred on Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone.

Theodore Bikel performed two roles in the Babylon 5 universe, in 1994 as Rabbi Koslov in the first-season episode "TKO" and in 1998, as Ranger leader Lenonn in the TV movie Babylon 5: In the Beginning.

Theodore Bikel was nominated for the Drama Desk Award in 2010 for outstanding solo performance for Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears, an off-Broadway play that he wrote.

In 2012, Theodore Bikel played the title role in Visiting Mr Green with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company in Toronto, Ontario.

In 2013, Theodore Bikel starred in Journey 4 Artists, a documentary that celebrates the power of music and religious diversity.

In 1955, at the suggestion of Jac Holzman of Elektra Records, Theodore Bikel began recording songs, including several albums of Jewish folk songs and songs from Russia and other countries, making over 20 contemporary and folk music albums during his career.

Theodore Bikel was able to sing in 21 different languages, including Yiddish, Hebrew, German, Russian, Hungarian, Romanian, French, medieval Spanish, Zulu, and English.

In 1959, Theodore Bikel co-founded the Newport Folk Festival.

Theodore Bikel performed a number of recorded duets with Judy Collins at various festivals and on television.

Theodore Bikel viewed then 21-year-old Bob Dylan as one of those young performers expressing emotional and social messages through song.

In 1963, Theodore Bikel joined Dylan, Seeger, Peter, Paul and Mary, and Joan Baez for the festival grand finale as they sang "Blowin' in the Wind" and "We Shall Overcome".

In 1962, Theodore Bikel became the first singer besides Dylan to perform "Blowin' in the Wind" in public.

Theodore Bikel opened the first folk music coffee house in Los Angeles, The Unicorn.

Theodore Bikel became increasingly involved with civil-rights issues and progressive causes, and was a Eugene McCarthy delegate to the 1968 Democratic Convention.

Theodore Bikel married journalist and foreign correspondent Aimee Ginsburg on December 29,2013.

Theodore Bikel was a longtime activist in the civil-rights and human-rights movements, participating as a fundraiser with performances.

Theodore Bikel co-founded the Actors Federal Credit Union in 1962, and in 1968, he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Theodore Bikel was president of Actors' Equity from 1977 to 1982, in which office he supported human-rights causes.

Theodore Bikel has left an indelible mark on generations of members past and generations of members to come.

Theodore Bikel did some of his campaigning during the run of The Sound of Music, which got him into trouble with the producers, who did not think it was becoming for an actor.

Theodore Bikel was arrested in front of the Soviet Embassy in Washington in 1986 while protesting the plight of Soviet Jews.

Theodore Bikel was a member of the high-IQ collective Mensa International.

Theodore Bikel died on July 21,2015, at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles of natural causes, according to publicist Harlan Boll, survived by Ms.

Theodore Bikel was buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.