Nehemiah Persoff

Persoff was born to Shmuel Persoff and Puah Holman in the city of Jerusalem in 1919.^[2][3][4][5] His father, Shmuel, was a silversmith, jeweler, and art teacher born in Chernihiv, Russian Empire (now Ukraine).^[6] His mother, Puah, was a Palestinian Jew. His father decided that there were better prospects for him and his family in the United States and in 1923 immigrated on his own. By 1929, he had become financially secure in New York City and sponsored the immigration of his wife and three sons (Boaz, Avraham, and Nehemiah himself) and two daughters (Tamar and Geula).^[7] At first, the family lived in an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, before eventually moving to The Bronx.^[2] The family spoke Yiddish and Hebrew at home.^[8] Persoff's parents later returned to Israel.^[7]

Persoff began to pursue his acting career in New York theatre. In 1947, he was accepted into the Actors Studio and was one of the 26 members of the beginners' class taught by Elia Kazan, along with Martin Balsam, Julie Harris, Kim Hunter, Cloris Leachman, and James Whitmore.^[2] He began his acting career in 1948.^[11][12]

His first role was an uncredited bit part in the film noir The Naked City (1948).^[13]

Among his early film roles was as the taxi driver during Marlon Brando's "I coulda been a contender" scene in On the Waterfront (1954);^[2] Leo the accountant in The Harder They Fall (1956), with Humphrey Bogart and Rod Steiger;^[2] and the gangster boss Little Bonaparte (a parody of Rico/Little Caesar) in Billy Wilder's film Some Like It Hot (1959),^[14] and he appeared again with Steiger in Al Capone (also 1959).^[2] He also appeared in supporting roles in films such as The Comancheros (1961)^[15] and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).^[16]

Persoff, alongside Dean Stockwell and Andrew Bloch, appeared as Darius the Great's wicked Babylonian administrators in the 1978 Greatest Heroes of the Bible episode Daniel in the Lions' Den.^[17]

In the film Yentl (1983), Persoff portrayed the father of Barbra Streisand's character.^[18] He appeared in the comedy film Twins (1988)^[19] and in the American Tail animated-film series as Papa Mousekewitz.^[20] His last movie was 4 Faces (1999), the last film to be directed by Ted Post.^[21]

His acting career included many appearances in television series, including six episodes of The Untouchables, three episodes of which he appeared as Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik (regarded by many as his signature role),^[22] and Gilligan's Island as the title character in the episode "The Little Dictator" (the favorite episode of the show's creator Sherwood Schwartz).^[23] Persoff appeared on the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Most Toys" and was the oldest living male actor to appear in a Star Trek production at the time of his death.^[24]

In 1951, Persoff married Thia Persov, who had served as a nurse with the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.^[2] She died of cancer in 2021. The couple had four children: Jeffrey, Dan, Perry, and Dahlia.^[2]

On April 5, 2022, at the age of 102, Persoff died of heart failure at a rehabilitation facility in San Luis Obispo, California.^[1][2]

• Jews in the American film industry
• List of centenarians (actors, filmmakers and entertainers)