SHALOM

Chaim Topol, Star of ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ Dies Aged 87

The Israeli actor never gave up on the role which brought him global fame.

The Israeli actor Chaim Topol, who has died aged 87, was widely known by just one name—Topol—and for one singular role, as Tevye the Milkman in the Fiddler on the Roof. After first playing the role of a Jewish peasant in pre-revolutionary Russia in the Israeli stage version of the musical, Topol was hired to play it in London’s West End—learning the script phonetically because he did not yet speak English—and was then cast in the 1971 film version, which won him a Golden Globe and a Best Actor Oscar nomination. Despite appearing in other films including Flash Gordon and the Bond movie For Your Eyes Only, Topol stuck with the role that first made him famous, playing Tevye an estimated 3,500 times around the world, his last appearance coming in Australia in 2009.“How many people are known for one part? How many people in my profession are known worldwide? So I am not complaining,” he told The Times of Israel in 2015. Topol’s death, after a struggle with Alzheimer’s was announced by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who described him as a “gifted actor who conquered many stages in Israel and overseas, filled the cinema screens with his presence and especially entered deep into our hearts.”