Theodore Bikel

Biography

Theodore Bikel is one of the most versatile and respected actors and performers of his generation.

A master of languages, dialects and accents, he has played every sort of film villain and semi-bad guy imaginable, and always adds depth, dimension and even sympathy to characters that would end up as cardboard cutouts in the hands of lesser actors.

His memorable supporting roles include a German naval officer in _The African Queen , a weekly cavalcade of folk music.

Over the years he has performed on college campuses and in concert halls all over the country, and has recorded a number of record albums of folk music from around the world.

No detailed information about his background, personal life, education, professional experience, or accomplishments has been provided or confirmed. This section serves as a general placeholder until more accurate and verified details can be collected and published.

There are many reasons why a biography might be missing or incomplete. In some cases, individuals are listed or mentioned before a profile has been written. In others, a person may wish to maintain privacy, or their contributions may not yet be fully documented. The absence of a biography does not imply a lack of importance or relevance. Every individual has a unique story, and this section acknowledges that Theodore Bikel is part of a broader context—even if the details are not yet available.

As more information becomes accessible through official records, publications, or direct input, this biography will be updated to reflect who Theodore Bikel is and what he brings to his field or role. The intention is to provide an accurate, respectful, and informative profile when the time is right.

Until then, this entry will remain simple and general. It avoids speculation and assumptions, and instead leaves space open for a future version that can properly represent Theodore Bikel's journey, achievements, and contributions. We look forward to adding more when the opportunity allows.

For now, Theodore Bikel is acknowledged here without further detail, with the understanding that every person’s story is valuable—even if it hasn’t yet been told.

Gender: Male
Education: Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Place of birth: Vienna
Birth date: 02 May 1924
Member of: Meretz
Nationality: Austria

Was twice nominated for Broadways Tony Award: in 1958, as Best Supporting or Featured Actor for "The Rope Dancers", and in 1960, as Best Supporting or Featured Actor for "The Sound of Music".
He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 29, 2005.
Had appeared as a member of a MENSA-like society in "Columbo" {The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q.
He made guest appearances on both of the longest running prime time dramas in US television history: "Gunsmoke" and "Law & Order" .
Had played submarine officers from three different European navies: as the executive officer of a German World War II U-Boat in the film The Enemy Below ; as retired World War I Austro-Hungarian U-Boat Captain Georg Von Trapp in the original 1959 Broadway production of The Sound of Music ; and as the captain of a Soviet submarine during the Cold War in the film The Russians Are Coming the Russians Are Coming .
Co-founded the Newport Folk Festival (with Pete Seeger).
Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote the song "Edelweiss" specifically for him to perform on Broadway in "The Sound of Music".
While making his film debut in The African Queen , he appeared on the London stage in "Love of Four Colonels".
Had performed the role of Tevye ("Fiddler on the Roof") over 2,000 times at various venues.
His parents, Miriam Gizella (Riegler) and Josef Bikel-Hasenfratz, were Jewish immigrants from Bukovina, in Central Europe.

You learn more from the flops than from the hits.
What moves me is neither ethnocentric pride nor sectarian arrogance. I,make no claim that Jewish culture is superior to other cultures.
No doubt, unity is something to be desired, to be striven for, but it,cannot be willed by mere declarations.
I prefer to make common cause with those whose weapons are guitars,banjos, fiddles and words.
By showing hunger, deprivation, starvation and brutality, as well as endurance and nobility, documentaries inform, prod our memories, even stir us to action. Such films do battle for our very soul.
I have always striven to raise the voice of hope for a world where hate gives way to respect and oppression to liberation.
All too often arrogance accompanies strength, and we must never assume that justice is on the side of the strong. The use of power must always be accompanied by moral choice.
I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family.
No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language.

Movies

Theodore Bikel: In the Shoes of Sholom Aleichem
2014
Portraits of two beloved icons--Sholom Aleichem and Theodore Bikel--are woven together in this enchanting new documentary.
Journey 4 Artists
2013
In this documentary, world music serves as a catalyst for four artists: Oscar nominated actor/activist/folksinger Theodore Bikel, Shura Lipovsky, Merima Kljuco, Tamara Brooks, who come from Jewish and Muslim cultures to share their extraordinary passion and purpose which is to make music that transcends the discordance of the ordinary world.
Katz's: That's All
2010
The Sound of Music: Musical Stages
2010
A Sacred Duty
2007
Lonely Man of Faith: The Life and Legacy of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
2006
A rabbinic scholar battles ignorance, extremism, corruption, and loneliness to make a lasting impact on the American Jewish community.
Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal
2004
In September of 2004 at the Toronto Film Festival, the Weavers sang together for possibly the last time..
H.U.D.
2000
About the secret undercover crime-fighting work of the Department of Housing and Urban Development..
The Lost Wooden Synagogues of Eastern Europe
2000
Humphrey Bogart: Behind the Legend
1994
My Family Treasure
1993
A US mother goes to the USSR, just before its dissolution, to find the priceless Fabergé egg that the Russian Tsar left to her peasant father 70 years ago when the Russian Revolution hit, but the egg got lost in the commotion..
Crisis in the Kremlin
1992
A rugged C.
Memories of Midnight
1991
Catherine lost her memory and wound up in a convent in the care of nuns.
Dark Tower
1989
When a window-washer falls to his death from the side of a Barcelona high-rise office building (also killing a unsuspecting pedestrian), security consultant Dennis Randall is called in to investigate.
The True Story of Frank Zappa's 200 Motels
1988
A one-hour documentary on the making of Frank Zappa's bizarre 1971 comic musical.
Lodz Ghetto
1988
The Polish city of Lodz was under Nazi occupation for nearly the entire duration of WWII.
Inside the Soviet Circus
1988
Go behind the scenes at Moscow's Circus School and experience the magic and wonder of the performances that delight millions.
Very Close Quarters
1986
Depicts a communal flat in Russia where the Government randomly assigns 20 people to live in a one-bedroom apartment..
Covenant: People of the Living Law
1986
A film essay on the way in which the fundamentals of Jewish law have remained true to their historical origins and have been passed down through the centuries, and have been informed by those centuries..
Prince Jack
1984
A dramatic look at the inner workings of the Kennedy administration..
Staus: Growing Old in America
1983
The Return of the King
1980
This film adapts the final book of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy where the Hobbits, Frodo and Samwise, struggle through the barren land of Mordor to destroy the Ruling Ring in Mount Doom.
The Stingiest Man in Town
1978
This cartoon version of A Christmas Carol hails from the production house of Arthur Rankin Jr.
Murder on Flight 502
1975
On a flight to London, a note is found stating that there will be murders taking place on the airliner before it lands..
Out of Bondage
1974
Scenes and interviews of recent Jewish emigres from the Soviet Union, on their way across Europe to Israel, are interspersed with vivid flashbacks of the whole of Russian-Jewish history.
Killer by Night
1972
When a woman is brought to a hospital, the doctor who sees her, believes she has diphtheria so he calls Dr.
The Little Ark
1972
This heart-rending family-oriented drama chronicles the adventure of two Dutch children who temporarily lose their father and mother during the great flood of 1953.
Darker Than Amber
1970
Darker than Amber is a 1970 film adaptation of the John D.
My Side of the Mountain
1969
Sam, a brilliant child, leaves home for the mountains after being told that the family summer trip has been canceled, thus preventing him from doing the algae experiments he had planned for that summer.
Sweet November
1968
Sweet November is a 1968 romantic comedy-drama Technicolor film written by Herman Raucher and starring Sandy Dennis, Anthony Newley and Theodore Bikel.
The Diary of Anne Frank
1967
The Diary of Anne Frank was a 1967 TV film based on the book The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
Festival
1967
Black and white footage of performances, interviews, and conversations at the Newport Folk Festival, from 1963 to 1966.
Saint Joan
1967
A television adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play about the life, battles and subsequent trial of Joan of Arc, based on the kept records from her trial..
Beyond the Mountains
1967
In 1941, two Polish brothers escape a Soviet gulag.
The Last Chapter: The Saga of One Thousand Years of Jewish Life in Poland
1966
Who Has Seen the Wind?
1965
This was part of a series of TV productions intended to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.
The Blue Angel
1959
Professor Immanuel Rath (Curt Jurgens)is a martinet botany professor at a German high school who finds post cards bearing the likeness of Lola-Lola (May Britt), "The Blue Angel", in the possession of his pupils.
A Dog of Flanders
1959
The emotional story of a boy, his grandfather, and his dog.
The Defiant Ones
1958
When the truck that is transporting convicts has an accident on the road, the inmates John "Joker" Jackson and Noah Cullen that are chained to each other escape.
I Bury the Living
1958
Through a series of macabre "coincidences," the newly-elected director of a cemetery (Richard Boone) begins to believe that he can cause the deaths of living owners of burial plots by merely changing the push-pin color from white (living) to black (dead) on a large wall map of the cemetery that notes those plots..
I Want to Live!
1958
Barbara Graham is a woman with dubious moral standards, often a guest in seedy bars.
The Enemy Below
1957
During World War II, the USS Haynes, an American destroyer escort discovers a German U-boat in the South Atlantic.
The Pride and the Passion
1957
The story in this movie deals with the perseverance of Spaniards to take back their country from the French who have conquered Spain under Napoleon as he marched over Europe.
There Shall Be No Night
1957
Escape from the Iron Curtain
1956
Mission to bring out a scientist from Hungary..
Chance Meeting
1954
A young employee of the British State Department falls in love with the daughter of a top Russian diplomat, much to the panic of their respective countries' officials, who suspect espionage.
The Little Kidnappers
1953
The Little Kidnappers, billed as The Kidnappers in the UK, is a 1953 British film, directed by Philip Leacock and written by Neil Paterson..

TV

Los Angeles History Project
1988
Loose Change
1978
The story of three girlfriends who came of age in the 1960s, and how that period affected each of their lives..
Over Easy
1977
A talk show with news, interviews, and entertainment aimed at the older viewer..
An den Wassern zu Babylon
1969

Books

Theo
Theodore Bikel
Ten-year-old theo lives with his grandfather and a minder in a vast, decrepit long island mansion said to have inspired the great gatsby.
Nine Contemporary Jewish Plays
Theodore Bikel
Jewish theatre--plays about and usually by jews--enters the twenty-first century with a long and distinguished history.
Theo
Theodore Bikel
An award-winning actor on screen and stage (the defiant ones, the african queen, the sound of music, my fair lady, fiddler on the roof), an activist for civil rights and progressive causes worldwide, and a singer whose v.
Theo
Theodore Bikel
An award-winning actor on screen and stage (the defiant ones, the african queen, the sound of music, my fair lady, fiddler on the roof), an activist for civil rights and progressive causes worldwide, and a singer whose v.
Theo
Theodore Bikel
Looking back on his life and career, this memoir by theodore bikel tells his story from his childhood in pre-nazi vienna and his teenage years on a kibbutz to his stage debut in the original london production of a streetcar named desire and his film debut.
Theo
Theodore Bikel
Looking back on his life and career, this memoir by theodore bikel tells his story from his childhood in pre-nazi vienna and his teenage years on a kibbutz to his stage debut in the original london production of a streetcar named desire and his film debut.
Theo
Theodore Bikel
Looking back on his life and career, this memoir by theodore bikel tells his story from his childhood in pre-nazi vienna and his teenage years on a kibbutz to his stage debut in the original london production of a streetcar named desire and his film debut.
The Rothschilds
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel
Theodore Bikel
Folksongs and footnotes
Theodore Bikel
City of Light
Theodore Bikel Theodore
The story of a boy's happy childhood in the city of light, where all was well and life was full of warmth and promise.