orig. Samuel Joel Mostel
born Feb. 28, 1915, New York, N.Y., U.S.
died Sept. 8, 1977, Philadelphia, Pa.
U.S. actor.
He initially worked both on Broadway and in film, but after being blacklisted in Hollywood after 1955, he worked principally in theatre in New York City. He gave acclaimed performances in Ulysses in Nighttown (1958) and Rhinoceros (1961), and he had lead roles in the musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962) and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). His later films included Mel Brooks 's The Producers (1968) and The Front (1976), a film about the blacklisting era. Mostel was also a serious painter throughout his life.