  samuel joel "zero" mostel (february 28, 1915 â september 8, 1977) was an american actor and comedian of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as tevye on stage in fiddler on the roof, pseudolus on stage and on screen in a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, and max bialystock in the original film version of the producers. mostel was a student of don richardson, using an acting technique based on muscle memory. he was blacklisted during the 1950s, and his testimony before the house committee on un-american activities was well-publicized. he was an obie award and three-time tony award winner. ==early life== mostel was born to israel mostel, an eastern european jew, and cina "celia" druchs, also from a jewish family, who was born in poland and raised in vienna. the two emigrated to the united states (separately: israel in 1898 and cina in 1908), where they met and married. israel already had four children from his first wife; he had four more children with cina. samuel, later known as zero, was israel's seventh child. the name "zero" was created by press agent ivan black when mostel began his career as a nightclub comic. the name was created at the behest of barney josephson, proprietor of the cafÃ© society nightclub, who felt that "sam mostel" was not appropriate for a comic.brown, pp. 23-24 according to his brother, bill mostel, their mother coined the nickname "zero", noting that if he continued to do poorly at school, he would amount to a zero. jim a. cohen initially living in the [[b
1915_births 1977_deaths 20th-century_American_male_actors Actors_Studio_alumni American_Jews American_comedians American_male_film_actors American_male_musical_theatre_actors American_people_of_Austrian-Jewish_descent American_people_of_Polish-Jewish_descent Art_Students_League_of_New_York_alumni Cardiovascular_disease_deaths_in_Pennsylvania City_College_of_New_York_alumni Deaths_from_aortic_aneurysm Hollywood_blacklist Jewish_American_male_actors Jewish_comedians Male_actors_from_New_York_City Musicians_from_Brooklyn Tony_Award_winners United_States_Army_soldiers