Tinseltown Talks

Since retiring from acting over a decade ago, Nehemiah Persoff has become a successful artist painting from his seaside home in Cambria, Calif., (see www.nehemiahpersoffpaintings.com).

His screen career spanned six decades, beginning in the late 1940s, with Persoff being recognized as one of Hollywood’s most prolific and versatile character actors.

Raised in Jerusalem, his natural talent for dialects was quickly exploited when Persoff moved to Hollywood after a decade of stage and early TV work in New York. Often cast in the role of ethnic villains, he crafted a career playing slick gangsters, ruthless outlaws, and menacing military leaders.

“I did play many villains, but also diplomats, doctors and scientists,” recalled Persoff, who turns 95 this year. “So I don’t think I was typecast. I enjoyed playing any character that was well written.”

In his second film, “On the Water Front” in 1954, Persoff appears on screen for just a few seconds as the tense cab driver in the famous ‘I could have been a contender’ scene with Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger. Director Elia Kazan offered him $75 for the role.

“There were Brando and Steiger in the back section of a sawed off car,” said Persoff. “I sat on a milk box with Brando and Steiger behind me. When it was time for my close-up, Kazan whispered in my ear to imagine that ‘the guy behind you killed your mother.’ When I saw the film I was surprised to see how effective the close-up turned out.”

He went on to work with other greats including Karloff, Cagney, and Humphrey Bogart on his final film in 1956, “The Harder They Fall.”

“He was already very sick and his eyes teared a great deal,” said Persoff. “But he had moments when he was very sharp. He wasn’t the sort of guy you wanted to tangle with. I heard him give one wise guy a tongue lashing that was devastating – you didn’t get smart with Bogie!”

With over 400 film and TV roles to his credit, Persoff admits he has forgotten details about some. But he does recall an episode of “Gunsmoke” with James Arness in which the six and a half foot lawman refused to yield vertical ground to the 5' 7" Persoff.

“I was supposed to be a gunman who challenged Marshal Dillon,” he explained. “I suggested to the director that perhaps I might be more of a threat if I wore lifts in my shows to make me taller. So the wardrobe people gave me high heels to make me about six feet. When I walked on the set and the showdown came, I looked over at Arness and he was suddenly seven feet tall. He had heard I was getting shoes to make myself taller, so he got a pair too and was still a foot taller than me!”

In 1983, Persoff portrayed Barbra Streisand’s father in “Yentl.”

“She wrote, directed and produced the film, and she acted and sang in it,” he recalled. “When she sang ‘Papa can you hear me?’ she sang it over and over and over. I thought she sounded perfect each time, but it took her many takes until she got it right to her satisfaction. It was her baby, and she wanted no more from others than she demanded of herself.”

Today, Persoff enjoys retirement and paints several hours a day while basking in the West Coast sunset, rather than the Hollywood spotlight. But he gives credit to his first career for helping his second.

“When I got a role, I set my sights on being able to get under the skin of the character,” he said. “At first it would seem like a formidable task, but somehow I always got the job done and achieved my goal. It’s the same with painting. When you sit in front of a blank canvass, there is a feeling of ‘I can’t do it’ for many painters. But because of my acting experience, I always felt that I could do it, and I did.”

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 400 magazines and newspapers. He can be reached at his blog: http://getnickt.blogspot.com