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Leo Fuchs

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Leo Fuchs
Fuchs preparing for a role in 1949
Born(1911-05-15)May 15, 1911
DiedDecember 31, 1994(1994-12-31) (aged 83)
Occupationactor

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 Lviv, Ukraine.[3]

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 Que 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

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)

1970 Green Acres/ Uncle Fedor/ Season 5 Episode 25

References

  1. ^ a b c Mendelovitch, Bernard (January 18, 1995). "Leo Fuchs" (obituary). The Independent. independent.co.uk. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d Leo Fuchs papers, Guide to the YIVO Archives. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. yivoarchives.org. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c Schechter (2008), p. 180.
  4. ^ Zalmen Zylbercweig, Leksikon fun Yidishn teater, Book five, 4053
  5. ^ "Save the Music bio: Leo Fuchs". Archived from the original on December 8, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  6. ^ Yonas Turkow, Farloshene shtern, book 2, p 83-87
  7. ^ a b Leo Fuchs: Born Laybl Springer in Lemberg Archived 2011-08-10 at the Wayback Machine. Caraid O'Brien, 2nd Avenue site. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
  8. ^ Lugowski, p. 63.
  9. ^ Friedman, p. 36.
  10. ^ Leo Fuchs bio at IMDb. Retrieved May 26, 2015.

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.
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