Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel established himself across more than six decades as a versatile performer equally at home on screen, onstage, and in concert halls. His early screen work included a supporting part in the 1951 release The African Queen, and he later appeared at the 1960 Newport Folk Festival before receiving a presidential appointment to the National Council for the Arts in 1977. Although born in Austria, he spent formative years in Israel and England before settling in the United States, eventually mastering five languages. He released recordings on Elektra, Columbia, and Reprise, authored the volume Folksongs & Footnotes, and held the post of vice-president at the American Jewish Congress.

Vienna, Austria, was the site of his birth in 1924; his family escaped to Palestine in 1938 and acquired British citizenship there. Intending to pursue language studies and a teaching career, he took work on a communal farm to cover costs. Theater soon drew him away, and in 1943 he departed the farm for training at the Hamimah Theater in Tel Aviv. He joined four fellow actors to establish the Tel Aviv Chamber Theater. In 1946 he relocated to London for studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where he also developed a committed interest in folk music and guitar playing. The following year Sir Laurence Olivier observed his stage work and cast him in the London mounting of A Streetcar Named Desire.

By the opening years of the 1950s he was appearing in English- and American-made films as Russian officers or German sailors, then settled in New York City in 1955—the same period that marked the launch of his folk-music activities. Elektra signed him in the mid-1950s, issuing Israeli Folk Songs in 1955. As a co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival, he performed there in 1960. His song selection ranged widely across Russian, Eastern European, and Israeli sources. He played hundreds of engagements across the United States, among them appearances at Rainbow & Stars in New York and The Boarding House in San Francisco, while also touring New Zealand, Australia, and numerous European venues.

Film and folk music remained twin pursuits for the ensuing sixty years. Screen credits encompassed The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming in 1966, See You in the Morning in 1989, and Shadow Conspiracy in 1997. On record he offered Songs of the Earth for Elektra in 1967, A New Day on Reprise in 1970, and A Taste of Passover for Rounder in 1998. Civic engagement included his 1977 selection by President Jimmy Carter to the National Council for the Arts, a role he held through 1982. Additional service encompassed the Associated Actors and Artistes of America, Americans for the Arts, and the American Jewish Congress. The University of Hartford conferred an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree upon him in 1992.