One of the busiest character actors of all time, Nehemiah Persoff was born August 14, 1919, in Jerusalem (then-Mandatory Palestine), and died April 5, 2022 in San Luis Obispo, California. He moved to the States with his family in 1929 and settled in New York City. Eventually, he became interested in acting, making his stage debut in 1940, in a production of The Emperor's New Clothes.
After a stint in the Army during World War II, Persoff went to study under the legendary Stella Adler. That led to him being discovered by another legend, Charles Laughton, who cast him in the play Galileo. Laughton, unable to pronounce 'Nehemiah', gave Persoff the nickname of 'Nick'. In 1948, he made his acting debut with an uncredited part in The Naked City.
Persoff appeared in a number of famous films ranging from On the Waterfront to Twins (1988), but television proved to be his forte. A dependable and versatile actor, he started by appearing in anthology series in the 1950's, and later appeared in hundreds of television series over five decades, in shows ranging from Gilligan's Island to Law & Order.
If any actor exemplifies the Fake Nationality trope, it is Nehemiah Persoff, who played pretty much every nationality you can name. Some examples:
- Mexican: El Presidente on Mr. Lucky, General Rodriguez on Gilligan's Island, General Vicente Ruiz on The Big Valley
- German: Carl Lanser on The Twilight Zone (1959) (episode "Judgment Night")
- Italian: Mobster Johnny Fortunato on The Untouchables, City Councilman Leo Cussoni on Dan August
- French: Paul Marchand on Jericho (1966 series)
- Polish: Anton Wojeska on Mannix
- Greek: 'Papa' Kampacalas on The Streets of San Francisco
- Arab: Dr. Mustafa Haddid on Ellery Queen
- Russian Jew: The voice of Papa Mousekewitz in An American Tail
Additionally, he played historical figures Josef Stalin (in the TV-movie FDR: The Last Year) and Leonid Brezhnev (in the mini-series Sadat).
Persoff retired from acting in the early 2000s, but he still became very much active around that time, having went from being a beloved character actor to a beloved artist, whose paintings sold for decent amounts of money. He continued with his artwork.
He passed away on April 5, 2022 at the age of 102.
Films featuring Nehemiah Persoff with TV Tropes pages:
- The Naked City (as Smiling Man Departing Subway [uncredited], 1948)
- On the Waterfront (as Cab Driver [uncredited], 1954)
- The Harder They Fall (as Leo, 1956)
- The Wrong Man (as Gene Conforti, 1956)
- Some Like It Hot (as Little Bonaparte, 1959)
- Fate Is the Hunter (as Ben Sawyer, 1964)
- The Greatest Story Ever Told (as Shemiah, 1965)
- Panic in the City (as "August Best", 1968 Made-for-TV Movie)
- Deadly Harvest (as Mort Logan, 1977)
- Yentl (as Reb Mendel, 1983)
- An American Tail (as the voice of Papa Mousekewitz, 1986)
- The Last Temptation of Christ (as Rabbi, 1988)
- Twins (as Mitchell Traven, 1988)
Television series featuring Nehemiah Persoff with TV Tropes pages:
- Alfred Hitchcock Presents (2 episodes, 1957-60)
- Mr. Lucky (as El Presidente, 1959)
- The Twilight Zone (1959) (as Carl Lanser, 1959)
- Wagon Train (as Tiburcio Mendez, 1961)
- Route 66 (2 episodes, 1961)
- The Untouchables (6 episodes, 1959-62, including three as Jake 'Greasy Thumb' Guzik)
- Rawhide (2 episodes, 1963-64)
- Burke's Law (3 episodes, 1964-65)
- Honey West (as Faustini, the phony psychic, 1966)
- Gilligan's Island (as Pancho Hernandez Gonzalez Enriques Rodriguez, 1965)
- Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (as Dobbs, 1966)
- The Big Valley (as General Vicente Ruiz, 1966)
- The Time Tunnel (as Professor Anton Biraki, 1966)
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (as Valandros, 1967)
- I Spy (2 episodes, 1966-67)
- The Wild Wild West (3 episodes, 1965-68)
- It Takes a Thief (1968) (as Harry Lavender, 1969)
- Mission: Impossible (3 episodes, 1966-69)
- Hawaii Five-O (7 episodes, 1968-78)
- The Flying Nun (as Alonzo Baldazan, 1969)
- Land of the Giants (as Titus, 1969)
- The Mod Squad (3 episodes, 1969-72)
- Dan August (as Councilman Leo Cussoni, 1970)
- Adam-12 (as Angelo Covelli, 1972)
- The Streets of San Francisco (as 'Papa' Kampacalas, 1972)
- Mannix (as Anton Wojeska, 1972)
- Love, American Style (2 episodes, 1970-73)
- McMillan & Wife (as Clemente Habib, 1973)
- Gunsmoke (6 episodes, 1965-75)
- Marcus Welby, M.D. (3 episodes, 1969-75)
- Police Story (1973) (2 episodes, 1974-79)
- Ellery Queen (as Dr. Mustafa Haddid, 1975)
- Columbo (as Jesse Jerome, 1976)
- Baretta (as Vittorio Luzziano, 1976)
- The Six Million Dollar Man (as Major Popov, 1977)
- Wonder Woman (as Professor Moreno, 1977)
- McCloud (2 episodes, 1973-77)
- Quincy, M.E. (as Matt Dorsey, 1977)
- Charlie's Angels (as Anton Metzger, 1977)
- Police Woman (as Como, 1977)
- Little House on the Prairie (as Olaf Lundstrom, 1978)
- Logan's Run (as Asa, 1978)
- The Bionic Woman (as Dr. Philip Jennings, 1978)
- Vegas (as The Sheik, 1978)
- The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (as Vladimir, 1979)
- Battlestar Galactica (1978) (as Eastern Alliance Leader, 1979)
- Fantasy Island (2 episodes, 1978-80)
- Barney Miller (3 episodes, 1978-80)
- Scarecrow and Mrs. King (as Brobich, 1984)
- Magnum, P.I. (as Rabbi Asher Solomon, 1985)
- Hotel (1983) (as Nicholas Patrovsky, 1985)
- The Facts of Life (as Sam, 1986)
- Highway to Heaven (as Deputy Premier Molinoff, 1986)
- MacGyver (as Sam Palinski, 1989)
- L.A. Law (as Rabbi Isidore Glickman, 1990)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (as Toff in "The Most Toys", 1990)
- Hunter (as Harold Goodman, 1990)
- Murder, She Wrote (as Constantin Stavros, 1990)
- Doogie Howser, M.D. (as Max Wernick, 1992)
- Law & Order (as David Steinmetz, 1993)
- Chicago Hope (as Rabbi Ben Taubler, 1995)
