Known For
Acting
Born
Aug 02, 1919
Died
Apr 05, 2022
Place of Birth
Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate
Credits
173 titles
Nehemiah Persoff
Biography
Nehemiah Persoff was an American film and television actor. Persoff emigrated with his family from Palestine 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.
Known For
Filmography
Boris Karloff: The Rest of the Story
Self - Interviewee
Tony Curtis: Driven to Stardom
Self
Angels in America
Rabbi (uncredited)
4 Faces
An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster
Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island
Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
Chicago Hope
Rabbi Ben Taubler
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
Law & Order
David Steinmetz
Doogie Howser, M.D.
Max Wernick
Twins
Mitchell Traven
The Last Temptation of Christ
Rabbi
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Toff
J.J. Starbuck
An American Tail
Papa Mousekewitz (voice)
L.A. Law
Rabbi Isadore Glickman
MacGyver
Sam Bolinski
Murder, She Wrote
Constantin Stavros
Highway to Heaven
Hunter
Harold Goodman
Yentl
Rebbe Mendel
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Hotel
American Playhouse
Marcus Hoff
O'Hara's Wife
Dr. Fischer
St. Helens
Mr. Ellison
Magnum, P.I.
Rabbi Asher Solomon
Turnover Smith
Ashmed Amad
The Henderson Monster
Prof. Leo Tedeschi
F.D.R.: The Last Year
Josef Stalin
Condominium
Conlaw
B.A.D. Cats
The French Atlantic Affair
Col. Schreiner
The Facts of Life
In Search of Historic Jesus
Herod Antipas
A Cry for Justice
Dr. Burke
The Rebels
Baron Von Steuben
Supertrain
Max
Daniel in the Lions' Den
Malimar
The Word
Abbot Petropolous
Vega$
Battlestar Galactica
Eastern Alliance Leader
A Double Life
Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women
Charles Frohman
Killing Stone
Earl Stone
Fantasy Island
Horst Von Stern
The Making of a President
Logan's Run
ASA
Deadly Harvest
Mort Logan
Hunter
Sheik Farakbi