Family Card - Person Sheet
NameTheodore Bikel 
Birth2 May 1924
FatherJosef Bikel (1898-1979)
MotherMiriam Gizella Riegler (1898-)
Spouses
*New [EDUC]Hebrew University (BA)
*New [EDUC]Hebrew University (BA)
Birth11 Jun 1962, Cincinnati, OH
FatherBernad Ginsburg (1937-2001)
MotherEllen Renay Ginsburg Mayers (1940-)
Marriage2013
Notes for Theodore Bikel
{geni:occupation} Actor, musician, prfessor
{geni:about_me} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel (born May 2, 1924) is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen (1951) and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in TheDefiant Ones (1958).
Bikel is President of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America and was president of Actors' Equity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Partners For Progressive Israel,[1] where he also lectures. His autobiography, Theo, was published in 1995.
Contents [show]
Early years[edit]
Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Miriam (née Riegler) and Josef Bikel from Bukovina.[2] Being active in Zionism, his father named him after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. Following the Nazi occupation of Austria, Bikel's family fled to Palestine, where his father's contacts helped the family obtain British passports.[3]
Bikel started acting while in his teens. He co-founded the Cameri Theatre there—which has gone on to become one of Israel's biggest theaters—before he moved to London to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1945.[4] In 1948, Michael Redgrave recommended Bikel to his friend Laurence Olivier as understudy for the parts of both Stanley Kowalski and Mitch in the West End premiere of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.[5] Bikel graduated from understudy to star opposite the director's wife, Vivien Leigh, who would go on to recreate her role as Blanche DuBois in the film version opposite Marlon Brando.
Performing career[edit]
After several plays and films in Europe, Bikel moved to the United States in 1954, and became a naturalized citizen in 1961. He was the U-boat first officer to Curt Jürgens in The Enemy Below (1957) and played the captain of the Russian submarine in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966). He also portrayed the sadistic General Jouvet in The Pride and the Passion (1957) Bikel was screentested for the role of Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964). The screentest can be seen on the "Ultimate Edition" DVD released in 2006. Bikel also appeared in Frank Zappa's 1971 film 200 Motels.
Bikel was the President of the Actors' Equity Association, in which office he supported human rights. At the 1977 AFL–CIO Convention, Bikel (right) welcomed the Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky (center) upon his release from the Soviet Union. Tom Kahn (left) was an assistant to AFL–CIO President George Meany.[6]
On Broadway he originated the role of Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music in 1959, for which he received his second Tony nomination. Bikel did not like his role in "Sound of Music" because his ability to sing was limited in the play, and he did not like to perform repeatedly the same role of the Captain. In 1964, he played Zoltan Karpathy, the dialect expert, in the film version of My Fair Lady. Since his first appearance as Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof in 1967, Bikel has performed the role more often than any other actor (more than 2,000 times to date). When an injury required 74-year-old fellow Israeli performer Chaim Topol (veteran of many productions of the stage show and star of the motion picture of Fiddler on the Roof) to withdraw from a high-budget, much-promoted 2009 North American tour of the musical, Bikel substituted for him in several Canadian appearances, including Calgary in January 2010, and had scheduled appearances in the musical beyond his 86th birthday in May of that year.[7]
In the 1950s, Bikel produced and sang in several albums of Jewish folk songs, as well as Songs of a Russian Gypsy, in 1958. He was a co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival (together with Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand, and George Wein)in 1959. In 1962, Bikel became the first singer besides Dylan to perform "Blowin' in the Wind" in public. Bikel (with business partner Herb Cohen) opened the first folk music coffeehouse in Los Angeles, The Unicorn. Its popularity led to the two opening a second club, Cosmo Alley, which in addition to folk music presented poets such as Maya Angelou and comics including Lenny Bruce. Bikel became increasingly involved with civil rights issues and progressive causes, and was a delegate to the 1968 Democratic Convention.[8]
In addition to scores of appearances on film and on the stage, Bikel was a guest star on many popular television shows. He appeared in an episode of the 1954 NBC legal drama Justice based on cases from the Legal Aid Society of NewYork.[9] He also appeared in the episode entitled "The Faithful Pilgrimage" of CBS's Appointment with Adventure anthology series. The particular episode was written by Rod Serling. He also appeared in a second episode of Appointment with Adventure entitled "Return of the Stranger."
Later, Bikel guest starred on Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (episode "Four O'Clock" as Oliver Crangle). He appeared on episodes of Wagon Train, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo, Charlie's Angels, Cannon, Little House on the Prairie, Mission: Impossible, Gunsmoke, Dynasty, All in the Family, Knight Rider, and Law & Order. He appeared on the game show Super Password as a celebrity guest in 1988.
In the early 1990s, he appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation, in the episode "Family", playing Sergey Rozhenko, the Russian-born adoptive father of Worf. Bikel performed two roles in the Babylon 5 universe, in 1994 as Rabbi Koslov in the first season episode "TKO" and in 1998, as Ranger leader Lenonn in the TV movie Babylon 5: In the Beginning.
In February 2012, Bikel played the title role in Visiting Mr. Green with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company in Toronto, Ontario. In May 2013, 'Journey 4 Artists', a documentary produced/directed by Michele Noble featuring Theodore Bikel, Tamara Brooks, Merima Kljućo and Shura Lipovsky which celebrates the power of music and religious diversity, premiered at Academy Award winning producer, Branko Lustig's 7th Annual Jewish Festival of Tolerance in Zagreb, Croatia.
Actors' unions and charities: Leadership[edit]
Bikel is president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America. He was president of Actors' Equity in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in which office he supported human rights. At the 1977 AFL–CIO Convention, Bikel welcomed the Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky upon his release from the Soviet Union.[6] U.S. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to serve on the National Council for the Arts in 1977 for a six-year term.[citation needed] In 1962 he co-founded Actors Federal Credit Union.
On January 28, 2007, he agreed to serve as chair of the Board of Directors of Meretz USA (now Partners for Progressive Israel).
His autobiography, Theo, was published in 1995 by Harper Collins, and re-issued in an updated version by the University of Wisconsin Press in 2002. He is a member of the High IQ collective Mensa International.[10]
{geni:about_me} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Bikel
Theodore Meir Bikel (born May 2, 1924) is a character actor, folk singer and musician. He made his film debut in The African Queen (1951) and was nominated for an Academy award for his supporting role as Sheriff Max Muller in TheDefiant Ones (1958).
Bikel is President of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America and was president of Actors' Equity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Partners For Progressive Israel,[1] where he also lectures. His autobiography, Theo, was published in 1995.
Contents [show]
Early years[edit]
Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Miriam (née Riegler) and Josef Bikel from Bukovina.[2] Being active in Zionism, his father named him after Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism. Following the Nazi occupation of Austria, Bikel's family fled to Palestine, where his father's contacts helped the family obtain British passports.[3]
Bikel started acting while in his teens. He co-founded the Cameri Theatre there—which has gone on to become one of Israel's biggest theaters—before he moved to London to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1945.[4] In 1948, Michael Redgrave recommended Bikel to his friend Laurence Olivier as understudy for the parts of both Stanley Kowalski and Mitch in the West End premiere of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.[5] Bikel graduated from understudy to star opposite the director's wife, Vivien Leigh, who would go on to recreate her role as Blanche DuBois in the film version opposite Marlon Brando.
Performing career[edit]
After several plays and films in Europe, Bikel moved to the United States in 1954, and became a naturalized citizen in 1961. He was the U-boat first officer to Curt Jürgens in The Enemy Below (1957) and played the captain of the Russian submarine in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966). He also portrayed the sadistic General Jouvet in The Pride and the Passion (1957) Bikel was screentested for the role of Auric Goldfinger in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964). The screentest can be seen on the "Ultimate Edition" DVD released in 2006. Bikel also appeared in Frank Zappa's 1971 film 200 Motels.
Bikel was the President of the Actors' Equity Association, in which office he supported human rights. At the 1977 AFL–CIO Convention, Bikel (right) welcomed the Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky (center) upon his release from the Soviet Union. Tom Kahn (left) was an assistant to AFL–CIO President George Meany.[6]
On Broadway he originated the role of Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music in 1959, for which he received his second Tony nomination. Bikel did not like his role in "Sound of Music" because his ability to sing was limited in the play, and he did not like to perform repeatedly the same role of the Captain. In 1964, he played Zoltan Karpathy, the dialect expert, in the film version of My Fair Lady. Since his first appearance as Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof in 1967, Bikel has performed the role more often than any other actor (more than 2,000 times to date). When an injury required 74-year-old fellow Israeli performer Chaim Topol (veteran of many productions of the stage show and star of the motion picture of Fiddler on the Roof) to withdraw from a high-budget, much-promoted 2009 North American tour of the musical, Bikel substituted for him in several Canadian appearances, including Calgary in January 2010, and had scheduled appearances in the musical beyond his 86th birthday in May of that year.[7]
In the 1950s, Bikel produced and sang in several albums of Jewish folk songs, as well as Songs of a Russian Gypsy, in 1958. He was a co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival (together with Pete Seeger, Oscar Brand, and George Wein)in 1959. In 1962, Bikel became the first singer besides Dylan to perform "Blowin' in the Wind" in public. Bikel (with business partner Herb Cohen) opened the first folk music coffeehouse in Los Angeles, The Unicorn. Its popularity led to the two opening a second club, Cosmo Alley, which in addition to folk music presented poets such as Maya Angelou and comics including Lenny Bruce. Bikel became increasingly involved with civil rights issues and progressive causes, and was a delegate to the 1968 Democratic Convention.[8]
In addition to scores of appearances on film and on the stage, Bikel was a guest star on many popular television shows. He appeared in an episode of the 1954 NBC legal drama Justice based on cases from the Legal Aid Society of NewYork.[9] He also appeared in the episode entitled "The Faithful Pilgrimage" of CBS's Appointment with Adventure anthology series. The particular episode was written by Rod Serling. He also appeared in a second episode of Appointment with Adventure entitled "Return of the Stranger."
Later, Bikel guest starred on Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (episode "Four O'Clock" as Oliver Crangle). He appeared on episodes of Wagon Train, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo, Charlie's Angels, Cannon, Little House on the Prairie, Mission: Impossible, Gunsmoke, Dynasty, All in the Family, Knight Rider, and Law & Order. He appeared on the game show Super Password as a celebrity guest in 1988.
In the early 1990s, he appeared on Star Trek: The Next Generation, in the episode "Family", playing Sergey Rozhenko, the Russian-born adoptive father of Worf. Bikel performed two roles in the Babylon 5 universe, in 1994 as Rabbi Koslov in the first season episode "TKO" and in 1998, as Ranger leader Lenonn in the TV movie Babylon 5: In the Beginning.
In February 2012, Bikel played the title role in Visiting Mr. Green with the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company in Toronto, Ontario. In May 2013, 'Journey 4 Artists', a documentary produced/directed by Michele Noble featuring Theodore Bikel, Tamara Brooks, Merima Kljućo and Shura Lipovsky which celebrates the power of music and religious diversity, premiered at Academy Award winning producer, Branko Lustig's 7th Annual Jewish Festival of Tolerance in Zagreb, Croatia.
Actors' unions and charities: Leadership[edit]
Bikel is president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America. He was president of Actors' Equity in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in which office he supported human rights. At the 1977 AFL–CIO Convention, Bikel welcomed the Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky upon his release from the Soviet Union.[6] U.S. President Jimmy Carter appointed him to serve on the National Council for the Arts in 1977 for a six-year term.[citation needed] In 1962 he co-founded Actors Federal Credit Union.
On January 28, 2007, he agreed to serve as chair of the Board of Directors of Meretz USA (now Partners for Progressive Israel).
His autobiography, Theo, was published in 1995 by Harper Collins, and re-issued in an updated version by the University of Wisconsin Press in 2002. He is a member of the High IQ collective Mensa International.[10]