Zero Mostel

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BIRTHDAY

February 28, 1915

Brooklyn, New York, USA

DIED

September 08, 1977

RECENT CREDITS

Best Boy (FILM) Jan. 1, 1979

Watership Down (FILM) Nov. 1, 1978

Hollywood on Trial (FILM) Jan. 1, 1976

Rhinoceros (FILM) Jan. 1, 1974

The Angel Levine (FILM) Jul. 15, 1970

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BIOGRAPHY

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This volatile, stage-trained comic actor made his film debut playing dual roles in "Du Barry Was a Lady" (1943). Mostel's solid, bulky build and heavy-lidded eyes made him a convincing heavy, but his promising film career (e.g., "Panic in the Streets" 1950) was cut short when he was blacklisted following his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951. His fortunes revived in the early 1960s with his maniacally comic Broadway performance in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (1962) and, as Tevye, in "Fiddler on the Roof" (1964). Mostel turned in a landmark screen performance as bamboozling Broadway producer Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' "The Producers" (1967), and continued making regular film appearances into the late 1970s. One of his most notable later roles was in the Martin Ritt drama, "The Front" (1976), as a man facing the blacklist.

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Headlines

Broadway's newest source

May. 7, 2001

With the huge Broadway success of Mel Brooks' The Producers, it looks like you can bring the movies to the stage. On Monday, Brooks' musical stage adaptation of his classic movie received 15 Tony nominations, including nods for best musical, for stars Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, and for Brooks for best book and score.

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