The Phoenix Jewish news., 1959-02-27
Israe|-Born
Actor Plays
Movie Sheriff
BY HERBERT G. LUFT
Copyright 1859. JTA. Inc.)

HOLLYWOOD - There's two
fisted sheriff in the Robert Ryan
starrer, DAY of the Outlaw" cur
rently before the cameras at the
Amco studios in Hollywood. The
bulky young man with swarthy
complexion and bushy beard un-
der the wide-brimmed Western
hat, tough gun-slinger and town.
tanner, certainly didn't look to me
like a well-educated Israeli who
had studied with Nachum Zemach
and performed at the Chamber
Theater.
Yet, it was Jerusalem-born Ne
hemiah Persoff, called Nick by his
friends, man of many faces.
THE VERSATILE character ac-
tor, who recently has come to the
forefront, submerges his own per-
sonality to create his varied screen
roles. A fight promoter in "The
Harder They FALL" a bop music
clan in "The Wild Party" a Mexi-
can miner in 1.-THE Badlanders.
AS Sgt. Lewis in "Men in War"
he was driven to an outburst of
insane fear by the discovery of
sheer endless mine field. In "ThiS
Angry Age" an Italian movie
made in Thailand, Nick was a
suave Frenchman in love with Sill
vano Mangano. In the Mel Ferrer
picture "Green Mansions" he be-
came South American business
man. Lately, he has portrayed
gangsters in two still unreleased
films, Johnny Torrio in "Al Ca
pone" and Little Napoleon in the
Marilyn Monroe starrer, "Some
Like 1t Hot"
AS THE 38-year-old Persoff told
me during a coffee break, it was
his father who early had awakened
in him his love for the theater. The
elder Persoff had come to Pales-
tine from Russia during the Gar
ist oppression, his mother was a
Sabra; they had settled at the edge
of Jerusalem at Shaari Chesed
Gates of Mercy. Father Persoff
was active in the amateur Zion
theater, long before there was any
legitimate stage in Eretz Israel.
When Nick was 9, the family
moved to New York. The family
had come to America during the
worst period of the depression;
Nick's older brother was artistic
ally inclined, and the father had to
carry the full load of responsible
ity.
Nick, in order to support his
folks, learned a trade and went to
the Hebrew technical institute on
96th st. for a course as an electri-
clan. Later, he got a job as a
maintenance man at the Independ-
ent subway.
IN 1888, THE 1s-year-old by sheer
chance, was given a one-word
walk-on in a stage production of
the American-Israel Balfour Play
erS. Still working on the day-Shift
as a Garment Center electrician
and maintenance man, he gained
his first professional experience
with Ben-Ari's "Pagod" theater.
After he had secured some finan-
cial security, Nick accepted a
scholarship at Erwin Piscator's S
New School for Social Research,
where he studied till 1912.
The draft interrupted his career.
After the war, Persoff went back
to Piscator, and once more Joined
Ben-Ari in his memorable Hebrew
version of "The Merchant of Ven
ice" of 1947. The following year, he
entered Lee Strasberg'S Actors
Studio where he studied with such
future luminaries as Marion Bran
do, Tony Schwartz (Curtis) and
Rod Steiger.
During a short visit to Holly
wood, Persoff got his first movie
role as an extra in George Cukor'S
Double Life" (1947). The mex
year, walk-on in NAKED City.
Writer, Malvin Wald, who then was
nominated for an Academy Award
recently suggested Persoff for the
"Al Capone" movie, co-authoret
! by him.