Zero Mostel
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Born Name:
Samuel Joel Mostel
Born Date: February 28, 1915
Born Place: Brooklyn, New York City
Died Date: September 8, 1977
Died Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupations: Actor, comedian, singer
Brief Biography: Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel was renowned for his physically demanding and emotionally expressive comedic style. A City College of New York graduate, he began his career as an art instructor and painter, eventually transitioning to stand-up comedy at nightclubs in 1942. Mostel won three Tony Awards and anchored some of the most iconic roles in theatrical and cinematic history, though his career was derailed in the 1950s by the anti-Communist Hollywood blacklisting.
Key Career Highlights:
Early Breakthrough: Began his career at Barney Josephson's Cafe Society in New York, where a press agent gave him the nickname "Zero" because he was "a guy who’s started from nothing".
Rhinoceros (1961): Won his first Tony Award for his transformative role in the absurdist Broadway play.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962): Secured his second Tony Award playing the wily slave Pseudolus, a role he also reprised in the 1966 film adaptation.
Fiddler on the Roof (1964): Created the immortal role of Tevye on Broadway, which earned him his third Tony Award.
The Producers (1968): Starred as the conniving Broadway producer Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks's original comedy film.
The Hollywood Blacklist:
Mostel's left-wing sympathies led to his blacklisting in the 1950s by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Though this scuttled a blossoming Hollywood career, he eventually returned to the spotlight to great acclaim and later played a blacklisted comedian in the 1976 drama The Front.
Born Date: February 28, 1915
Born Place: Brooklyn, New York City
Died Date: September 8, 1977
Died Place: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupations: Actor, comedian, singer
Brief Biography: Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel was renowned for his physically demanding and emotionally expressive comedic style. A City College of New York graduate, he began his career as an art instructor and painter, eventually transitioning to stand-up comedy at nightclubs in 1942. Mostel won three Tony Awards and anchored some of the most iconic roles in theatrical and cinematic history, though his career was derailed in the 1950s by the anti-Communist Hollywood blacklisting.
Key Career Highlights:
Early Breakthrough: Began his career at Barney Josephson's Cafe Society in New York, where a press agent gave him the nickname "Zero" because he was "a guy who’s started from nothing".
Rhinoceros (1961): Won his first Tony Award for his transformative role in the absurdist Broadway play.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962): Secured his second Tony Award playing the wily slave Pseudolus, a role he also reprised in the 1966 film adaptation.
Fiddler on the Roof (1964): Created the immortal role of Tevye on Broadway, which earned him his third Tony Award.
The Producers (1968): Starred as the conniving Broadway producer Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks's original comedy film.
The Hollywood Blacklist:
Mostel's left-wing sympathies led to his blacklisting in the 1950s by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC). Though this scuttled a blossoming Hollywood career, he eventually returned to the spotlight to great acclaim and later played a blacklisted comedian in the 1976 drama The Front.