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Nehemiah Persoff

Nehemiah Persoff

Birthday: 1919-08-02 | Place of Birth: Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Nehemiah Persoff (born August 2, 1919) was a former 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 watercolour. This was at a time when health problems forced him to decrease his acting workload. Description above from the Wikipedia article Nehemiah Persoff, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1999
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster

as    Papa Mousekewitz (voice)

1998
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island

as    Papa Mousekewitz (voice)

1991
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

as    Papa Mousekewitz (voice)

1986
An American Tail

as    Papa Mousekewitz (voice)

1983
Yentl

as    Rebbe Mendel

1982
St. Helens

as    Mr. Ellison

1980
Turnover Smith

as    Ashmed Amad

1980
The Henderson Monster

as    Prof. Leo Tedeschi

1979
In Search of Historic Jesus

as    Herod Antipas

1978
Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women

as    Charles Frohman

1977
Deadly Harvest

as    Mort Logan

1976
Voyage of the Damned

as    Herr Hauser

1975
Psychic Killer

as    Doctor Gubner

1974
The Stranger Within

as    Dr. Edward Klein

1974
The Sex Symbol

as    Nick Fortis

1973
Dracula

as    Dr. Van Helsing

1972
Lieutenant Schuster's Wife

as    Champagne Joe Carroll