Nehemiah Persoff Movies
Trivia buffs and diehard fans of Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront will know that the non-speaking cab driver in the film's famed 'taxicab scene between Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger was noted character actor Nehemiah Persoff. An American resident from age 9, the Jerusalem-born Persoff spent his early adulthood working for the New York subway system. Asked in later years why he chose acting as a profession, Persoff would comment that the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe compelled him to prove himself worthy of his "gift of life." On stage in community and non-professional productions from 1940, he studied with Stella Adler at the Actor's Studio before graduating to Broadway. His first film appearance, in 1948, was in the Manhattan-based The Naked City. After attaining prominence in the mid-1950s, Persoff alternated between villainy and sympathetic roles, utilizing his ear for dialects to depict a wide array of nationalities. He was often cast as a gangster, both serious (Johnny Torrio in the 1959 feature Capone, Jake Guzik on the TV series The Untouchables) and satiric (Little Bonaparte in 1959's Some Like It Hot). His credits in the 1980s included Stalin in the 1980 TV movie FDR: The Last Year, Barbra Streisand's father in Yentl (1983), and the robust voice of Papa Mousekewitz in the 1986 animated feature An American Tail. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi- 1963
- NR
In this comedy, the head of a United Nations department suddenly becomes a father when he stumbles across an abandoned baby in one of the halls. He tries to find a home for the darling and suddenly finds himself surrounded by assorted exotic beauties all trying to win the baby for their country. In the end, though, the bachelor takes the babe for his own. Songs include: "So Wide the World," "Fais Do Do," and "A Global Affair." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bob Hope, Liselotte Pulver, (more)
- 1972
Israeli-born actor Nehemiah Persoff guests in this episode as Angelo Covelli, an immigrant Italian tailor. Signor Covelli has been acting strangely of late, arousing the interest of Officers Jim Reed (Kent McCord) and Pete Malloy (Martin Milner). The two mobile cops are aware that Angelo's brother was recently murdered--and equally aware that the old man is perfectly willing to become a killer himself to avenge his brother's death and uphold his family's honor. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1959
Rod Steiger is the screen's first "method mobster" in the title role of Al Capone. The film traces Big Al's progress from a torpedo in the hire of Chicago gangster Johnny Torrio (Nehemiah Persoff) to Capone's takeover of the Windy City's bootlegging operations, and his ultimate downfall at the hands of the IRS. Rod Steiger delivers every line with maniacal gusto, as though it will be his last; sometimes he sounds like Frank Gorshin doing a Rod Steiger impression, but for the most part it is a dynamite performance. Featured in the cast are Murvyn Vye as Bugs Moran, Joe De Santis as Big Jim Colosimo, Lewis Charles as Hymie Weiss, Robert Gist as O'Banion, and James Gregory and Martin Balsam as composite characters, respectively based on honest Chicago cop John Siege and duplicitous newspaper reporter Jake Lingle. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rod Steiger, Fay Spain, (more)
- 1957
Upon his release from prison, petty crook Jackie Blake (Darryl Hickman) is "adopted" by Martha and Ralph Collins (Mildred Dunnock, Nehemiah Persoff), the kindly parents of his former cellmate. For the first time in his life, Jackie has a family and a place that he can call home, and before long he has found a good job and has embarked upon a new direction in life. But as revealed in the episode's final moments, Martha and Ralph Collins aren't quite all that they appear to be. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1960
Somewhere deep in the Amazon jungle, middle-aged prospector Jeff Jensen (Nehemiah Persoff) is attacked and nearly killed by his young wife, Marie (Cara Williams). Concluding that his wife has gone insane, Jeff commiserates with his partner, Mike (Mark Richman), and together they agree that Marie must be taken out of the jungle to see a "head shrinker" -- that is, a psychiatrist. Little does Jeff suspect that Marie's display of madness was carefully contrived so that she could run off with her boyfriend, Mike! Unfortunately, the lovers' "perfect" scheme comes to a gruesome end, thanks to a little matter of miscommunication.... ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
An American Tail is a beautifully rendered animated flim that tells an overly familiar story in terms children can easily understand. Fievel Mousekewitz and his family of Russian-Jewish mice escape from their homeland in the late 1800s, boarding a boat headed toward America to evade the Czarist rule of the Russian cats. Fievel, however, is separated from his family upon his arrival in New York City, and he discovers to his horror that there are cats in America too (his father said there weren't). Fievel meets his share of friendly and hostile mice, and he eventually befriends a cat as well. Former Disney animator Don Bluth co-produced and directed this often heartwarming yarn, the first animated feature presented by Steven Spielberg, and it has its charms despite a number of cliché situations. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi
- Starring:
- Cathianne Blore, Dom DeLuise, (more)
- 1991
- G
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In this animated sequel to An American Tale, Fievel Mousekewitz strikes out from not-so-enthralling New York City in a wagon train headed West. Helping propel the departure is a crafty cat named Cat R. Waul who tells our Fievel that out West the cats and mice get along just fine. Once on the trail, Fievel finds that the cat's real plan is mice meat pie out of the little rodents, and Fievel tries his darndest to warn everyone, but to no avail. On his side, however, are a couple of friendly cats, including one named Tiger (voice: Dom Deluise) whose scattered one-liners will keep most audiences chuckling. Another wonderful character is the has-been sheriff Wylie Burp (voice: James Stewart). Although this film may be rightfully criticized as being a little too tame, even for toddlers, the endearing and humorous character side-play will likely appeal to most little ones, and very possibly some big people, too. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Philip Glasser, James Stewart, (more)
- 2000
- G
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Fievel, Tony, Tanya, Tiger, and their new friend, hot-shot reporter Nelly Brie, are on the trail of an alleged mouse-nabbing monster, rumors of which have made Manhattan's rodent population tremble. ~ Rovi
- Starring:
- Thomas Dekker, Nehemiah Persoff, (more)
- 1998
- G
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Fievel the Mouse returns in this direct-to-video release, the third installment in the An American Tail series. Fievel (voice of Thomas Dekker) and his friend Tony Toponi find a map that they believe points to a treasure buried somewhere beneath Old New York, and the plucky rodent is determined to find it. However, what he discovers under the city is a tribe of Native American mice who were driven underground by prejudiced European immigrants. Fievel makes new friends with the outcasts, and he comes to realize that they have the same right to live freely in America as anyone else. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Thomas Dekker, Nehemiah Persoff, (more)
- 1976
In his third Baretta appearance, Burt Young is cast as Johnny Chekko, the longtime best friend of undercover cop Tony Baretta (Robert Blake). Unfortunately, Chekko has taken a different path in life, and is now employed as a professional hit man. Thus it is that Baretta enters into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with his former friend to prevent a high-profile assassination. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Blake, Edward Grover, (more)
- 1957
An overbearing woman is determined to force her two kids to turn her struggling rice plantation into a success. Unfortunately, it is located on the Indochinese coast and is being threatened by rough seas; all that stands between the paddies and the ocean is a small seawall. More trouble comes in the form of a government agent who tries to get them to abandon the land. After falling in love with the beautiful daughter, the agent abandons his mission. But then her brother tires of his mother's constant harping and flees to Bangkok and this leads to more problems. Featuring an international cast, much of the film was shot on location in Thailand. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Anthony Perkins, Silvana Mangano, (more)
- 1979
An angelic representative of the race that spawned the demonic Count Iblis (the villain in the two-part War of the Gods) anoints Apollo (Richard Hatch) as the potential savior of Mankind. Sent to Terra in the guise of a long-lost astronaut, Apollo must prevent a nuclear holocaust at the hands of the dreaded Eastern Alliance. "Experiment in Terra" was later combined with "The Return of Starbuck", an episode of the Battlestar Galactica spinoff Galactica 1980, and reissued as a two-hour "TV movie", also titled Experiment in Terra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Richard Hatch, Dirk Benedict, (more)
- 1980
Condominium is a two-part, four-hour TV adaptation of the novel by John D. McDonald. The setting is a hastily constructed Florida high-rise, assembled at the least possible cost by its greedy owners. An oncoming hurricane threatens to topple the structure and its residents into the ocean. Various degrees of greed, lust, terror and concern are displayed by stars Steve Forrest, Dan Haggerty, Ralph Bellamy, Barbara Eden, Stuart Whitman, Jack Jones and Pamela Hensley. Produced for the syndicated "Operation Prime Time" series, Condominium was first made available to local stations on November 20, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1969
John Gavin stars as Santa Fe marshal Ben Cutter, whose homecoming is blighted when he finds his town has been taken over by a Mexican bandit gang. Accompanied by two of the less frightened townsfolk--a small boy (Manuel Padila Jr.) and the boy's mother (Marisa Pavan)--Cutter sets out to rid the town of the interlopers. This TV movie was the pilot for a weekly series, slated for a CBS timeslot. Half a dozen scripts were prepared before the network decided to turn thumbs down. Cutter's Trail was originally telecast in a 90 minute slot, then expanded to two hours for syndication. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Set in an isolated, snow-covered town in the far West, this story has a renegade army officer named Jack Bruhn (Burl Ives) and his henchmen riding into the town threatening their worst to the men and women there. Blaise Starrett (Robert Ryan) decides to agree to Bruhn's demands for someone knowledgeable to lead them away from the law and the town, to safety. Mortally wounded himself, Bruhn opts to take Starrett up on his offer in one last act of generosity toward the townspeople, sparing them the mayhem threatened by his men. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, (more)
- 1972
- PG
This '70s eco-thriller involves the rapidly shrinking amount of farmland in the world, due to over-industrialization. Several groups become desperate to control food, and a vicious fight breaks out between rural areas (which control grain supplies) and urban centers (which contain most of the world's population). ~ John Bush, Rovi
- 1975
In this fact-based made-for-TV tearjerker, the promising life of a talented teenage athlete is suddenly destroyed when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Despite the bad news, the boy does all he can to fight the disease. His devoted mother supports him to the bitter, inevitable end. The story is based on the experiences of Doris Lund, the late Eric's mother. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1968
Made for television, Escape to Mindinao stars George Maharis and Ronald Remy as two GIs interred in a Japanese POW camp. Effecting a daring (and economically filmed) escape, Maharis and Remy make off with a secret Japanese decoding device. During their efforts to get back to their own lines, the fugitives cross the path of mercenary Dutch captain Nehemiah Persoff and his lovely daughter Willi Koopman. Maharis and Remy very nearly lose their top-secret booty to a black market ring before their journey is over. Escape to Mindinao was filmed on Luzon, in the Philippines. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1980
Jason Robards stars as the ailing, 62-year-old President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in F.D.R.: The Last Year. Though visibly frail and weary, Roosevelt runs for a precedent-setting fourth term. He also oversees plans for the D-Day Invasion and engages in tempestuous summit meetings with his wartime allies Stalin (Nehemiah Persoff) and Churchill (Wensley Pithey). Eileen Heckart co-stars as Eleanor Roosevelt, while Kim Hunter plays his "great and good friend," artist Lucy Rutherfurd, who is at his side when he suffers his fatal cerebral hemorrhage in April of 1945. The 3-hour, made-for-TV F.D.R.: The Last Year was first telecast May 15, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1964
Suspense builds around the investigation of a plane crash that caused 53 deaths in this dramatic adaption of Ernest K. Gann's novel. Authorities systematically eliminate probable causes, finally placing blame on the pilot, who was seen drinking before the flight. The airline's director of flight operations, Sam McBane (Glenn Ford), knowing the pilot's excellent WW II record, refuses to accept the authorities' conclusions and begins his own investigation. With the help of the only survivor, a stewardess (Suzanne Pleshette), McBane re-creates the events leading to the crash in an attempt to discover the true cause. The character of the incriminated pilot, Captain Jack Savage (Rod Taylor), is revealed through a series of flashbacks, from a wartime army camp (with a cameo by Jane Russell) to the climactic moment of the thrilling crash. Milton Krasner's crisp cinematography earned him an Oscar nomination. ~ Lucinda Ramsey, Rovi
- Starring:
- Glenn Ford, Nancy Kwan, (more)
- 1976
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy is a TV dramatization of the notorious Cold War incident of 1960. The story is told from the point of view of Powers (Lee Majors), an American pilot who was shot down over Russia while taking photographs on behalf of the CIA. The event occurs just before a crucial summit meeting between American President Dwight D. Eisenhower (James Flavin) and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev (Thayer David). Eisenhower tries to cover up the incident, allowing Khrushchev to make propagandistic hay of the whole affair. Robert E. Thompson's teleplay tends to depict the Americans as jerks, and the Russians as essentially good guys; even Powers' Soviet interrogator, portrayed by Nehemiah Persoff, comes off comparatively sympathetic. Also in the cast are Noah Beery as Powers' father and Lew Ayres as Allen Dulles. Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy was originally telecast September 29, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1965
Nehemiah Persoff guest stars as Pancho Rodriguez, exiled dictator of the banana republic of Equario. Invading the island with his own personal firing squad, Rodriguez immediately proclaims himself ruler over the castaways--and to prove he's not kidding, he sentence Gilligan (Bob Denver) to be shot. However, Rodriguez' plans go awry, and before long he has changed his tune and is offering Gilligan the opportunity to become dictator in his place...thereby setting up a terrific, and oddly disturbing, dream sequence. This is producer-creator Sherwood Schwartz's favorite Gilligan's Island episode. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Nehemiah Persoff, Bert Madrid, (more)
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