2023-03-14 14:36:47
Of Israeli origin, Chaim Topol has played the role of Tevye more than 3,500 times on stage, as well as in the film ” A fiddler on the roof ».
Chaim Topol, the Israeli-born actor who starred in A fiddler on the roof both on stage and on screen, died at the age of 87.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog announced Thursday the death of the actor, whom audiences around the world knew simply as Topol. ” From fiddler on the roof to roof of the world, Haim Topol, who passed away, was one of Israel’s most outstanding theater artists, a gifted actor who conquered many stages in Israel and abroad, filled the cinema screens of his presence and, above all, entered deeply into our hearts », tweeted Mr. Herzog about one of Israel’s most beloved actors.
Topol died in Tel Aviv, Israel, following a ” long illness “, said the representative of the actor to CNN ; his son also told Israeli media that his father had battled Alzheimer’s disease for the past few years.
Chaim Topol was best known for portraying the Russian milkman Tevye in the 1971 film adaptation of the musical A fiddler on the roof, awarded with a Tony. While actor and comedian Zero Mostel popularized the role on Broadway, Topol, a veteran of Israeli and London musical productions, eventually landed the lead role in director Norman Jewison’s film version.
Topol won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. The actor would reprise the role of Tevye ten years later in a revival of the musical in London, before playing it on Broadway in 1990 in another revival.
As well as playing Tevye around 3,500 times on stage, Topol also played Galileo in a 1975 film about the astronomer, Dr Hans Zarkov in the adaptation of Flash Gordon in 1980 and James Bond ally Milos Colombo in Just for your eyes in 1981.
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To many of you, he was Tevya, to us Chaim Topol was a national treasure, a cultural icon and above all a human being who loved his country.
Today we celebrate his life and legacy from Tel Aviv to Anatevka.
Lechaim. pic.twitter.com/RssBZmGDuW
— Israel Israel (@Israel) March 9, 2023
« For many of you he was Tevya, for us Chaim Topol was a national treasure, a cultural icon and above all a human being who loved his countryIsrael’s official Twitter account tweeted Thursday. Today we celebrate his life and legacy from Tel Aviv to Anatevka. »
The actor Josh Gad tweeted: ” There is no way to overstate how much this man and this performance meant to me. It was largely thanks to #Topol that I became an actor. In fact, his portrayal of Tevye in “A Violin” was the very first show I saw on a Broadway stage. RIP to a big one. »
Daniel Kreps
Translated by the editor
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