Zero Mostel

Biography

Zero Mostel was born Samuel Joel Mostel on February 28, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York, one of eight children of an Orthodox Jewish family.

Raised in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the young Zero, known as Sammy, developed his talent for painting and drawing at art classes provided by the Educational Alliance, an institution serving Jewish immigrants and their children.

Sammy often would go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to copy the paintings.

Sam Mostel matriculated at the City College of New York, then entered a master's program in art at New York University after graduating from CCNY in 1935.

He dropped out after a year and worked at odd jobs before being hired by the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project to teach drawing and painting at the 92nd Street "Y", the famous Young Men and Young Women's Hebrew Association located on Manhattan's 92nd St.

, in 1937.

Mostel married Clara Sverd, a CCNY classmate, in 1939, but the marriage was troubled due to personality conflicts.

The couple separated in 1941 and divorced in 1944.

While still teaching, Mostel supplemented his income by providing gallery lectures at various museums under the aegis of the WPA.

His lectures were full of jokes as Mostel personally was a clown, and subsequently he was hired to perform at private parties.

Mostel auditioned as a comedian at the downtown nightclub Cafe Society in late 1941, a jazz club.

Initially rejected, owner Barney Josephson hired Mostel after Pearl Harbor, figuring his patrons, now at war, could use some laughs.

It was Ivan Black, the club's press agent, who gave Sam Mostel the nickname Zero, explaining, "Here's a guy who's starting from nothing.

" Debuting at the Cafe Society on February 16, 1942, Zero was a hit with audiences and the critics, Simultaneously, Zero began appearing in the play "Cafe Crown" at the Cort Theatre, which opened on January 23, 1942 and played through May 23rd, closing after 141 performances.

Zero made some impromptu appearances on stage, but he wasn't officially part of the cast of the play, which was staged by 'Elia Kazan' 's "The Merchant," a pro-Jewish reimagining of 'William Shakespeare''s "The Merchant of Venice.

" Mostel had great hopes that his Shylock would be the crowning achievement of his career and put him back on top.

His huge talent and larger-than-life persona seemed to do better on stage.

This was not to come to pass.

He fell ill after a tryout performance in Philadelphia in September and was hospitalized.

On September 8, 1977, Zero Mostel died from an aortic aneurysm at the age of sixty-two.

One of the greatest, most unique, and definitely irreplaceable talents to grace the American stage and movies had passed away.

We are unlikely to look on his likes again.

Country: United States
Gender: Male
Education: Art Students League of New York·City College of New York·New York University
Place of birth: Brooklyn
Birth date: 28 February 1915
Nationality: American

Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical
Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play

One of the "12" blacklisted by the house of Un-American activities commitee in the 1950s.
Father of sons Josh Mostel (b. 1946) and Tobias Mostel.
Tony Award winner 1961 for "Rhinoceros.
Tony Award winner 1964 for "Fiddler On The Roof.
Blacklisted in the 1950s.
Nathan Lane starred on Broadway, and in the 2005 movie, as Max Bialystock in The Producers and on Broadway as Pseudolus in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". Zero Mostel played both characters in the earlier film versions.
He drank so much coffee that he was once hospitalized for caffeine poisoning.
According to his wishes, he had no funeral or "any memorial service to mark (his) passing.
Won three Tony Award: as Best Actor in1961 for "Rhinoceros," and as Best Actor in 1963 for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and in 1965 for "Fiddler on the Roof." He was also nominated in 1974 as Best Actor for "Ulysses in Nighttown.
He testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee on October 14, 1955. In a playful mood, he told the Committee that he was employed by "19th Century-Fox.

If you know my name, how can I be a zero? Smart, huh?

Movies

The Chase
1994
The Chase is a 1994 action comedy film starring Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson.
Animal Behavior
1989
The beautiful biologist Alex Brisco develops a new method to communicate with chimpanzees: instead of machines she uses a simple sign language.
Stoogemania
1986
Howard F.
Windy City
1984
Windy City is a 1984 American dramatic film starring Kate Capshaw, Josh Mostel and John Shea and written and directed by Armyan Bernstein.
Dead Ringer
1981
Part fiction, part documentary.
Best Boy
1979
Portrait of a family in transition: a mother, a father, and their son, their "best boy.
Off Campus
1977
The Front
1976
In the early 1950s Howard Prince, who works in a restaurant, helps out a black-listed writer friend by selling a TV station a script under his own name.
The Little Drummer Boy Book II
1976
Aaron, after playing his song, helps Melchior to spread the word by ringing Simeon's silver bells.
Mastermind
1976
Zero Mostel plays an inspector on the trail of criminals who have captured a robot called Chatze(sp?
Journey Into Fear
1975
An American geologist accidentally discovers oil in Turkish mountains.
Once Upon a Scoundrel
1974
Comic genius shines through in Zero Mostel's brilliant and hilarious portrayal of Senor Carlos de Refugio, a wealthy landowner known for his roguish and selfish acts.
Rhinoceros
1974
Originally an absurdist play by Eugene Ionesco, Rhinoceros tells the story of a French town plagued by rhinoceroses.
Saga of Sonora
1973
TV special which starred Vince Edwards as a hero who must stop gold-greedy villians, Jill St.
...and Then It Happened
1972
This school bus safety film follows the last bus rides given by two of the safest bus drivers, Wally Vega and Emma Hammer.
The Angel Levine
1970
Morris Mishkin is a elderly religious Jew in New York.
The Great Bank Robbery
1969
Lyda Kabanov and her assortment of buddies pose as leaders of the only church in Friendly, Texas, their intention being to rob the fortress-like bank built by the Brothers James, Dalton, and Younger to house their ill-gotten gold.
Great Catherine
1968
Slapstick comedy based on the play by George Bernard Shaw.
The Producers
1967
Down-on-his-luck theatrical producer Max Bialystock is forced to romance rich old ladies to finance his efforts.
Children of the Exodus
1967
Ride of the Valkyrie
1967
An opera singer, dressed in full costume and dress, must navigate through the busy city streets to get to the theater in time for his performance..
Monsieur Lecoq
1967
Unfinished, abandoned film spoofs 1868 detective novel.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1966
Pseudolus is the laziest slave in Rome and has but one wish, to purchase his freedom.
Carol + 2
1966
A fabulous collection of sketches and songs.
Hollywood in Spanien
1966
Zero Mostel
1959
The Enforcer
1951
The Enforcer (aka Murder, Inc.
The Model and the Marriage Broker
1951
Marriage broker Mae Swasey, who somewhat cynically arranges her loser clients' affairs, meets model Kitty Bennett and can't resist meddling in her life, by disentangling her from a married man and fixing her up with a nice radiologist.
Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell
1951
An urbane, sharp-tongued expert on how to stay young interrupts a lecturing tour to prove his theory at a dilapidated old people's home.