Yiddish theater star Fyvush Finkel dead at 93

Finkel was known to mainstream audiences for the show “Picket Fences”.

Born Philip Finkel on Oct. 9, 1922, in Brownsville, Brooklyn, he was the son of a Polish tailor and a Russian homemaker who had immigrated earlier. Finkel began his career on the Yiddish stage at age 9 — changing his first name to Fyvush — before going on to become a star of the various theaters around Second Avenue south of 14th street. Those theaters have since closed.

At age 43, he began touring in Fiddler on the Roof, playing various roles until he eventually starred as Tevye. In 1988, Finkel won an Obie Award for his role in the revival of Cafe Crown.

In the 1990s, he was cast in David E. Kelley’s Picket Fences as eccentric defense lawyer Douglas Wambaugh, a role that won him an Emmy in 1994. Finkel also played a history teacher on Kelley’s 2000-05 series Boston Public.

Other credits include the late-1990s revival of Fantasy Island and the Coen brothers’ 2009 film A Serious Man.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.