Chaim Topol, the Israeli author who played Tevye the milkman in “Fiddle on the Roof,” has died.
His participation in the 1971 film earned him a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.
He began his career in the theater, later moving to the big screen, assuming the role that immortalized him in 1966, when the protagonist of the play, on a London stage, fell ill.
A year later, Topol took a leave of absence from the production to do his military service during the Six Day War.
The success on stage earned him the call to repeat the interpretation, in the Norman Jewison film, made 52 years ago.
One of Topol’s few known appearances was in 007 – Top Secret Mission in 1981.
Topol passed away this Thursday, a victim of the sequelae of Alzheimer’s disease. He was 87 years old.
He will always be remembered as poor milkman Teyve, who sang “If I were rich.”
Source: TSF
