NEHEMIAH PERSOFF BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
 
Nehemiah Persoff was born on August 2nd, 1919 in Jerusalem, Palestine which is now Israel.  In 1929, he emmigrated with his family to the United States and graduated from high school.  Persoff then went on to study at the Hebrew Technical Institute of New York where he earned his degree.
 
He then found work as an electrician in New York and during his free time, Persoff would participate in amateur theatrical plays.  He then realized how much he enjoyed acting and soon was awarded with a scholarship to study at the Dramatic Workshop in New York.
 
By 1940, he was appearing on Broadway in such productions as, "The Emperor's New Clothes" and a number of other credits before World War II briefly took center stage in his life and he served in the United States Army for three years.
 
Upon completing his military service, Persoff returned back to working as a stage actor and also interning with Stella Adler.  After gaining some more stage experience, he then began to break into the film industry appearing in small roles on such films as, "The Naked City" (1948) followed by more substantial film roles such as, "The Harder They Fall" (1956), the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "The Wrong Man" (1956) starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles, "This Angry Age" (1958), "Al Capone" (1959), "Some Like it Hot" (1959) starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and George Raft and "The Comancheros" (1961) starring John Wayne and Stuart Whitman.
 
In addition to his many film credits, he also worked as a television actor appearing on such series as, "Gunsmoke", "Chicago Hope", "Law & Order", "The Facts of Life", "Hotel", "Highway to Heaven", "Magnum, P.I.", "Marcus Welby, M.D", "Hawaii Five-O" and "Love, American Style".
 
More recently he returned to stage acting and also added more film credits to his resume as was the case playing Barbra Streisand's father in, "Yentl" (1983), "Four Faces" (1999) and the animated Disney film series, "American Tail" (1998 and 1999). 
 
After a very long and highly successful acting career Nehemiah Persoff has now retired from acting and has become an artist with over 100 paintings completed, many of which are hung in various galleries in California.  He remains married to his only wife, Thia Persov whom he wed in 1951 and together they have four children.  He resides in Los Angeles, California and teaches acting classes part time.  

 
Filmography

1999   An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster

1999   4 Faces 

1998   An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island

1996   Tracey Takes On... 

1995   Chicago Hope 

1993   Law & Order

1993   Reasonable Doubts 

1992   Doogie Howser, M.D. 

1991   An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

1990   Murder, She Wrote

1990   Hunter 

1990   Star Trek: The Next Generation 

1990   L.A. Law

1989   MacGyver 

1988   Twins 

1988   The Last Temptation of Christ 

1988   American Playhouse

1987   J.J. Starbuck 

1987   Adderly 

1986   An American Tail

1986   Highway to Heaven 

1986   The Facts of Life

1985   Hotel

1985   Magnum, P.I. 

1984   Scarecrow and Mrs. King 

1983   Yentl

1983   Sadat 

1983   This Is the Life 

1982   O'Hara's Wife

1981   St. Helens 

1978-1981  Barney Miller 

1980   Condominium

1980   Turnover Smith

1980   The Henderson Monster

1980   F.D.R.: The Last Year

1980   The Littlest Hobo

1978-1980  Fantasy Island

1980   B.A.D. Cats 

1979   The Thirteenth Day: The Story of Esther 

1979   The French Atlantic Affair

1979   In Search of Historic Jesus

1979   Police Story: A Cry for Justice

1979   The Rebels

1979   Battlestar Galactica 

1979   Supertrain 

1979   Delta House 

1968-1979  Hawaii Five-O 

1978   The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries 

1978   Greatest Heroes of the Bible

1978   The Word 

1978   Vega$ 

1978   Sword of Justice 

1978   Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women

1978   Killing Stone

1978   High Hopes

1978   Richie Brockelman, Private Eye 

1978   The Bionic Woman

1978   Little House on the Prairie

1978   Logan's Run 

1978   A Double Life 

1977   Police Woman

1977   Charlie's Angels 

1977   Quincy, M.E. 

1977   Deadly Harvest

1977   Hunter 

1977   Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II 

1973-1977  McCloud

1977   The New Adventures of Wonder Woman

1977   The Six Million Dollar Man

1976   Voyage of the Damned

1976   Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident

1976   Baretta

1976   Columbo

1975   Psychic Killer 

1975   Ellery Queen

1975   Eric 

1975   The Invisible Man 

1969-1975  Marcus Welby, M.D. 

1965-1975  Gunsmoke

1974   The Missiles of October 

1974   The Stranger Within

1974   The Sex Symbol

1974   Police Story

1974   McMillan & Wife

1970-1973  Love, American Style

1973   Search 

1973   Dracula 

1970-1973  Insight 

1972   The Streets of San Francisco 

1972   Mannix

1972   Cool Million 

1972   Adam-12 

1969-1972  Mod Squad 

1972   Lapin 360 

1972   Lieutenant Schuster's Wife

1964-1972  Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color 

1972   Michael O'Hara the Fourth

1971   The Chicago Teddy Bears 

1971   Police Surgeon 

1971   Red Sky at Morning

1971   Mrs. Pollifax-Spy

1970   The High Chaparral 

1970   Dan August

1970   The People Next Door 

1970   Cutter's Trail 

1969   Land of the Giants 

1969   The Girl Who Knew Too Much 

1969   The Bill Cosby Show 

1969   The Flying Nun

1966-1969  Mission: Impossible

1969   It Takes a Thief

1968   The Name of the Game 

1968   Escape to Mindanao

1968   Panic in the City 

1968   CBS Playhouse

1968   Tarzan 

1968   The Power 

1968   Mafia

1965-1968  The Wild Wild West 

1967   The Money Jungle

1967   Maya 

1967   The Danny Thomas Hour

1967   Off to See the Wizard 

1967   The Man from U.N.C.L.E. 

1966-1967  I Spy

1967   Too Many Thieves 

1966   The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones 

1966   The Time Tunnel 

1966   Jericho 

1966   The Big Valley 

1966   The Trials of O'Brien

1966   Honey West 

1966   Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea 

1966   The Legend of Jesse James 

1965   A Man Called Shenandoah

1965   Convoy 

1965   Ben Casey

1965   Gilligan's Island

1964-1965  Burke's Law

1964-1965  Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre

1965   For the People

1965   The Greatest Story Ever Told 

1965   Mr. Novak

1965   Seaway 

1964   Fate Is the Hunter

1963-1964  Rawhide 

1964   A Global Affair 

1959-1963  Naked City 

1963   Sam Benedict

1963   The Hook

1959-1962  The Untouchables 

1962   Frontier Circus 

1962   The New Breed

1962   King of Diamonds 

1962   The Dick Powell Theatre 

1961   Bus Stop

1961   The Comancheros 

1961   Route 66 

1961   The Big Show

1961   Wagon Train

1961   Thriller 

1960   The Witness

1960   Moment of Fear

1960   Startime

1957-1960  Playhouse 90

1957-1960  Alfred Hitchcock Presents

1959   Twilight Zone

1959   Mr. Lucky 

1959   Five Fingers 

1959   Day of the Outlaw 

1959   Clash by Night 

1959   Some Like It Hot

1959   Al Capone 

1959   The Third Man

1959   Green Mansions

1959   Never Steal Anything Small 

1958   Shirley Temple Theatre 

1958   The Badlanders 

1958   Schlitz Playhouse

1958   Climax! 

1958   This Angry Age

1955-1958  The United States Steel Hour

1956-1957  Kraft Theatre 

1957   Street of Sinners 

1957   The Alcoa Hour 

1957   Men in War

1955-1957  Producers' Showcase 

1956   The Wrong Man 

1956   The Wild Party 

1954-1956  Armstrong Circle Theatre 

1956   The Harder They Fall 

1956   Playwrights '56

1953-1955  The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse

1954   On the Waterfront 

1954   Goodyear Playhouse 

1953   You Are There

1949   Actor's Studio 

1948   The Naked City