Nehemiah Persoff

Nehemiah Persoff (Hebrew: נחמיה פרסוף; August 2, 1919 – April 5, 2022) was an American actor and painter. He appeared in more than 200 television series, films, and theatre productions, and also performed as a voice artist in a career spanning 55 years.

His first acting role was as an extra in The Naked City (1948). Persoff is best known for roles as Leo in The Harder They Fall (1956), as Little Bonaparte in Some Like It Hot (1959), as Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik in The Untouchables (1959–1963), as Rebbe Mendel in Yentl (1983), and as the voice of Papa Mousekewitz in the animated film An American Tail (1986) and its sequels. He also made appearances on episodes of The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, Hawaii Five-O, Adam-12, and Law & Order.

Persoff was born to Shmuel Persoff and Puah Holman in the city of Jerusalem in 1919. His father, Shmuel, was a silversmith, jeweler, and art teacher born in Chernihiv, Russian Empire (now Ukraine). His mother, Puah, was from a Jewish family that had lived in Jerusalem for many generations. 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, three sons and two daughters. At first, the family lived in an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, before eventually moving to The Bronx. The family spoke Yiddish and Hebrew at home. Although not religious, Persoff was a devout Zionist for his entire life. As a teenager Persoff worked in odd jobs to support his family during the Great Depression. He attended the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York City, graduating as a certified electrician in 1937. He studied acting at the New Theatre acting school after obtaining a scholarship.

In 1942, he was drafted into the United States Army and served for the remainder of World War II; he was assigned to the Special Services for entertainment. He was tasked with forming an acting company that performed for soldiers. After he completed his military service, he took up an electrician's job as a subway signal maintenance worker in New York City.

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. He began his acting career in 1948. His first role was an uncredited bit part in the documentary–style detective film The Naked City (1948).

To further his acting career, Persoff stayed in the United States and did not return to Israel to fight in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a decision he later regretted. In 1951, he visited Israel and performed at the Cameri Theatre in productions of The Glass Menagerie and Volpone.

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); Leo the accountant in The Harder They Fall (1956), with Humphrey Bogart and Rod Steiger; and the gangster boss Little Bonaparte (a parody of Rico/Little Caesar) in Billy Wilder's film Some Like It Hot (1959), and he appeared again with Steiger in Al Capone (also 1959). He also appeared in supporting roles in films such as The Comancheros (1961) and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).

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.

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

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), and Gilligan's Island as the title character in the episode "The Little Dictator" (the favorite episode of the show's creator Sherwood Schwartz). 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.

Persoff retired from acting in 2003 and pursued painting, specializing in watercolors.

His memoir, The Many Faces of Nehemiah, was published by The Autumn Road Company in July 2021.

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. He met her while visiting Israel. She died of cancer in 2021. The couple had four children: Jeffrey, Dan, Perry, and Dahlia.

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