Born in 1935, Chaim Topol, known professionally as Topol, was an Israeli actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Tevye, the lead role in the stage musical, “Fiddler on the Roof” and the 1971 film adaptation, performing this role more than 3,500 times from 1967 through 2009.
Topol began acting during his Israeli army service ... He later toured Israel with kibbutz theatre and satirical theatre companies … His breakthrough film role came in 1964 as the title character in ”Sallah Shabati," by Israeli writer Ephraim Kishon, for which he won a Golden Globe for the male Most Promising Newcomer. He went on to appear in more than thirty films in Israel and the United States, including “Galileo," “Flash Gordon," and “For Your Eyes Only.” He was described as Israel's only internationally recognized entertainer from the 1960s through the 1980s.
He won a Golden Globe for Best Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his 1971 film portrayal of Tevye and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor for a 1991 Broadway revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
In 1971 Topol came to greatest prominence in his portrayal of Tevye the Dairyman on the stage and screen. He first played the lead role in the Israeli production of the musical “Fiddler on the Roof" in 1966, replacing for ten weeks the previous actor who had been playing Tevye, when the actor had fallen ill.
Harold Prince, producer of the original “Fiddler on the Roof” that opened on Broadway in 1964, had seen Topol in “Sallah Shabati” and called him to audition for the role of "Tevye" in a new production scheduled to open at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in February of 1967. Not yet fluent in English, Topol memorized the score from listening to the original Broadway cast album and by practicing the lyrics with a British native.
When Topol arrived at the audition, Prince was surprised that this thirty-year-old man had played Shabati, a character in his sixties.
Topol explained, "A good actor can play an old man, a sad face, a happy man. Makeup is not an obstacle." Topol also surprised the producers with his familiarity with the staging, since he had already acted in the Israeli production, and he was hired.
A few months after the opening, Topol was called up for reserve duty in the Six-Day War and returned to Israel. He was assigned to an army entertainment troupe on the Golan Heights. Afterward he returned to the London production, appearing in a total of 430 performances of "Fiddler on the Roof."
It was during the London run that he began being known only by one name, Topol, his last name.
In casting the 1971 film version of "Fiddler on the Roof," director Norman Jewison and his production team sought an actor other than Zero Mostel for the lead role. This decision was a controversial one, as Mostel had made the role famous in the long-running Broadway musical and wanted to star in the film. But Jewison and his team felt Mostel would eclipse the character with his larger-than-life personality, so Jewison flew to London in February 1968 to see Topol perform as Tevye during his last week with the London production, and chose him over Danny Kaye, Herschel Bernardi, Rod Steiger, Danny Thomas, Walter Matthau, Richard Burton, and Frank Sinatra, who had also expressed interest in the part.
Then thirty-six years old, Topol was made to look twenty years older and thirty pounds heavier with makeup and costuming.
In 1983 Topol reprised the role of Tevye in a revival of "Fiddler on the Roof" on the West End in London.
In 1989, he played the role in a thirty-city United States touring production.
In 1990–1991, and he again starred as Tevye in a Broadway revival of "Fiddler" at the Gershwin Theatre.
Topol again played Tevye in a 1994 London revival, which then became a touring production.
He later reprised the role of Tevye in Israel, Australia and New Zealand.
In 2009, Topol began a farewell tour of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Delaware, but due to injury he had to withdraw from the tour in Boston, and he was replaced by Theodore Bikel and Harvey Fierstein.
In all, Topol played Tevye more than 3,500 times!
