Nehemiah Persoff

Nehemiah Persoff — actor with roots in the Russian Empire

Nehemiah Persoff was a Jerusalem-born American actor with Russian-Jewish parentage who built one of Hollywood's most distinguished character acting careers. He appeared in On the Waterfront, Some Like It Hot, Al Capone, and the animated An American Tail — voicing Papa Mousekewitz.

Tracing the roots — Rus parents

Born in Jerusalem in 1919 to parents who had emigrated from Russia, Persoff was brought to the United States as a child. His Russian-Jewish heritage gave him access to a range of working-class immigrant characters that defined his career. His voice as Papa Mousekewitz in An American Tail — the story of Russian Jewish mice emigrating to America — was the most perfectly autobiographical casting in animation history.

A career defined by ambition