Nehemiah Persoff (August 2, 1919 – April 5, 2022) was an American film and television 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.
Recent movies
| # | Name | Character | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) | Papa Mousekewitz (voice) | 5 |
| 2 | An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) | Papa Mousekewitz (voice) | 5.7 |
| 3 | An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) | Papa Mousekewitz (voice) | 6.7 |
| 4 | Twins (1988) | Mitchell Traven | 5.9 |
| 5 | The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) | Rabbi | 6.6 |
| 6 | An American Tail (1986) | Papa Mousekewitz (voice) | 6.9 |
| 7 | Yentl (1983) | Rebbe Mendel | 6 |
| 8 | Voyage of the Damned (1976) | Herr Hauser | - |
| 9 | Psychic Killer (1975) | Doctor Gubner | - |
| 10 | The Power (1968) | Prof. Carl Melnicker | 6 |
| 11 | The Day of the Owl (1968) | Pizzuco | - |
| 12 | The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) | Shemiah | - |
| 13 | The Comancheros (1961) | Graile | 6 |
| 14 | Day of the Outlaw (1959) | Dan, Starret's Foreman | - |
| 15 | Green Mansions (1959) | Don Panta | 6 |
| 16 | Some Like It Hot (1959) | Little Bonaparte | 7.9 |
| 17 | Al Capone (1959) | Johnny Torrio | 4 |
| 18 | Mayerling (1957) | Police Officer | - |
| 19 | Men in War (1957) | Sgt. Lewis | 6 |
| 20 | The Wrong Man (1956) | Gene Conforti | 5 |
| 21 | The Harder They Fall (1956) | Leo | 4 |
| 22 | On the Waterfront (1954) | Cab Driver (uncredited) | 7.5 |
| 23 | Marty (1953) | The Critic | 6 |
