It hasn’t hit the international press yet, but Israeli actor Chaim Topol, most famous for his definitive performance in Fiddler on the Roof, passed away last night at the age of 87.
I was just watching Fiddler the other day. One of my favorites.
Topol had a very different take on the role of Tevye than Zero Mostel did on Broadway. Apparently Mostel was a bit more loose and clownish. Topol had a sort of gravitas in the film version, and as much as I adore Mostel I think I’m glad for how the movie was cast. Sorry to hear of his passing.
L’chaim!
His passing hit the news in Australia just a few minutes ago. What a sadness, he was just a master of his role in Fiddler.
Only thing I’ve ever seen him in was Flash Gordon, but he was memorable in that role - and considering how campy and over-the-top that movie was, that’s saying something.
You’ve never seen the Bond film For Your Eyes Only?
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a Bond film.
As I recall, he got the part in Fiddler because the director thought Zero Mostel’s performance was “too big, too American”. Topol was wonderful.
I got to see him perform in the travelling stage show many years ago. There were comments at the time how he had started playing Tevye as a young man made up to look old, progressed through being the right age and having his own daughters play Tevye’s daughters, until he was an old man made up to look younger in order to play the part. That’s just an incredible history, and he was wonderful both on stage and on screen.
Why did he only use his last name?
It appears that it was the result of the English producers of Fiddler on the Roof being unable to correctly pronounce “Chaim”:
I once saw him in Kensington High Street…though it could have been Ringo Starr…
Not a classic anecdote…
Same here, a huge highlight for me.
This is sad news. On the other hand…
RIP, Topol.
Thanks to my parents’ use of a tape of the “Fiddler on the Roof” soundtrack on long car trips when I was young, he pretty much was part of the foundation of my musical education (among other various things). I’m actually amazed by the other performances of his that I remember dearly, but didn’t associate with the same person - if I don’t have face blindness, I’m very close to it.
Indeed, this is sad news. But, RIP, Topol. I appreciated you more than I knew.
Ditto, ditto. Right up there with seeing Yul Brenner in The King and I and Joel Grey in Cabaret.
Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears
L’chaim! 
I saw The King and I with Yul Brenner in the late 70s when I was about 9. I was adamantly opposed to going to see it and came out loving it.
Awww, he was perfect!
I was lucky enough to see Topol in Fiddler, live on stage a well. He made it seem so intimate, like he was talking just to you. I’m another that feels lucky to have seen him, and also Joel Grey in Cabaret, Richard Harris in Camelot, Ted Neely and Carl Anderson in Jesus Christ Superstar.