Leo Fuchs (May 15, 1911 – December 31, 1994) was a Polish-born American actor.[1] According to YIVO, he was born Avrum Leib Fuchs in Warsaw;[2] according to Joel Schechter, he was born in Lwów, Galicia, then Poland, now called Lviv, Ukraine.[3]
Leo Fuchs | |
|---|---|
 Fuchs preparing for a role in 1949 | |
| Born | May 15, 1911 |
| Died | December 31, 1994 (aged 83) |
| Occupation | actor |
Fuchs performed in many Yiddish and English plays and movies throughout the mid-twentieth century, and was famed as a comic, a dancer, and a coupletist. He wrote much of his own material and toured widely.
Early life
Fuchs was born into a Yiddish theatrical family: his father, Yakov Fuchs, was a character actor; his mother, Róża Fuchs (Ruzha Fuchs),[4] was "a leading lady of the musical theatre who perished in the Holocaust of the 1940s,"[5] shot dead by Nazi Germans.[6] He began acting (in Polish) when he was five years old, and was praised when he performed at the Warsaw cabaret Qui Pro Quo when he was 17.[3]
Career
His American debut was at the Second Avenue Theater in the Yiddish Theater District in Lucky Boy with Moishe Oysher in 1929.[7] He moved to New York City in 1935.[2] In his prime, he was known as "The Yiddish Fred Astaire",[8][9] appearing both on Broadway and in film. In 1936, he married fellow actor Mirele Gruber and toured with her through Poland for a year. In 1937 he made two movies, the short I Want to Be a Boarder (in which he sang his famous song Trouble) and I Want to Be a Mother with Yetta Zwerling. In 1940 he starred in Amerikaner Shadkhen (American Matchmaker).[10] He divorced in 1941[7] and later married Rebecca Richman.
Starting in the 1960s, Fuchs performed in English-language plays and television,[2] as well as Hollywood films, including The Story of Ruth (1960).[1] Two of his best-known roles were in The Frisco Kid (1979), in which he played with Gene Wilder, and as Hymie Krichinsky in the film Avalon (1990).[3][1] He died in Los Angeles in 1994.[2]
Filmography
Movies
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | I Want to Be a Mother | Khaim Bok | |
| 1940 | Americaner Shadchen | Nat Silver / Uncle Shya | |
| 1941 | Mazel Tov Yidden | ||
| 1950 | Monticello, Here We Come | ||
| 1960 | The Story of Ruth | Sochin | |
| 1972 | Awake and Sing | Jacob | PBS - TV |
| 1979 | The Frisco Kid | Chief Rabbi | |
| 1990 | Avalon | Hymie Krichinsky | (final film role) |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | The Tab Hunter Show | Pandro Tremaine | Episode "The Movie Set" (alternate title "A Star Is Born") |
| 1962 | Wagon Train - The Levy McGowan Story | Mr. Levy | |
| 1963 | Mister Ed | Mr. Rasmussen | Episode "Patter of Little Hooves" |
| 1970 | Green Acres | Uncle Fedor | Episode "Uncle Fedor" |
| 1972 | Sanford and Son | Herman Goldstein | Episode “The Shootout” |
References
Bibliography
- Friedman, Jonathan C. Rainbow Jews: Jewish and Gay Identity in the Performing Arts. Plymouth, UK: Lexington, 2007.
- Lugowski, David. "'Pintele' Queer: The Performance of Jewish Male Heterosexuality in Yiddish American Cinema of the Great Depression." In Griffin, Sean. Hetero: Queering Representations of Straightness. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009. 53–70.
- Schechter, Joel. Messiahs of 1933: How American Yiddish Theatre Survived Adversity through Satire. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2008.
External links
- Leo Fuchs at IMDb
- Leo Fuchs at Find a Grave
- There are several Leo Fuchs songs on NYU's Yiddish Theater archive: