Nehemiah Persoff was born on April 2 1919 in Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine. His father was a silversmith and painter who moved the family to New York City in 1929. During World War II he served in the United States Army. It was in the Army that his talent for performing was recognized and he was assigned to a company that entertained the troops around the world.
Mr. Persoff worked an electrician in the New York City subway. Following the war he became part of the Actors Studio and acted in summer stock. He made his debut on Broadway in Galileo. In the late Forties he appeared on Broadway in Sundown Beach, King Richard II, and Monteserrat. He made his film debut in a bit part in The Naked City in 1948. He made his television debut in 1959 on Actors Studio.
In the Fifties Nehemiah Persoff started playing the recurring role of Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik on The Untouchables. He guest starred on the shows Suspense, You Are There, Goodyear Television Playhouse, The Stranger, The Man Behind the Badge, The Philco Television Playhouse, Appointment with Adventure, I Spy, Playwrights '56, Armstrong Circle Theatre, The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, Producers' Showcase, The Alcoa Hour, Kraft Television Theatre, The United States Steel Hour, Climax!, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Shirley Temple's Storybook, The Third Man, Five Fingers, Mr. Lucky, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Startime, Playhouse 90, and Naked City. He appeared in the movies On the Waterfront (1954), The Harder They Fall (1956), The Wrong Man (1956), The Wild Party (1956), Men in War (1957), Street of Sinners (1957), This Angry Age (1957), The Badlanders (1958), Never Steal Anything Small (1959), Some Like It Hot (1959), Green Mansions (1959), Al Capone (1959), and Day of the Outlaw (1959). He appeared on Broadway in Peter Pan, King Lear, Peer Gynt, Flahooley, Camino Real, Mademoiselle Colombe, Reclining Figure, Tiger at the Gates, and Only in America.
In the Sixties Nehemiah Persoff continued to appear on The Untouchables. He guest starred on the TV shows Thriller, Wagon Train, Route 66, Bus Stop, The Dick Powell Show, King of Diamonds, The New Breed, Frontier Circus, Sam Benedict, Naked City, Rawhide, Mr. Novak, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Seaway, Burke's Law, Gilligan's Island, Ben Casey, A Man Called Shenandoah, The Legend of Jesse James, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Honey West, Gunsmoke, The Trials of O'Brien, The Big Valley, Jericho, The Time Tunnel, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., I Spy, Off to See the Wizard, The Danny Thomas Hour, Maya, The Wild Wild West, Tarzan, CBS Playhouse, The Name of the Game, It Takes a Thief, Mission: Impossible, Corwin, The Flying Nun, The Bill Cosby Show, Land of Giants, Dan August, and The High Chaparral. He appeared in the movies The Big Show (1961), The Comancheros (1961), The Hook (1963), A Global Affair (1964), Fate is the Hunter (1964), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Too Many Thieves (1966), The Money Jungle (1967), Il giorno della civetta (1968), The Power (1968), Panic in the City (1968), The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1969), Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Colour, and The People Next Door (1970).
In the Seventies Nehemiah Persoff guest starred on the TV shows The Chicago Teddy Bears, The Wonderful World of Disney, The Mod Squad, Cool Million, Adam-12, Mannix, The Streets of San Francisco, Search, Purple Playhouse, Dr,. Simon Locke, Love American Style, Insight, McMillan & Wife, Gunsmoke, Marcus Welby M.D., The Invisible Man, Ellery Queen, Columbo, Baretta, The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, McCloud, Rich Man Poor Man Book II, Hunter, Quincy, M.E., Charlie's Angels, Police Woman, Logan's Run, Little House on the Prairie, The Bionic Woman, Richie Brokelman Private Eye, High Hopes, Sword of Justice, Vega$, Greatest Heroes of the Bible, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Hawaii Five-O, Delta House, Supertrain, Battlestar Galactica, The Rebels, Police Story, B.A.D. Cats, Fantasy Island, The Littlest Hobo, Condominium, and Barney Miller. He appeared in the movies Mrs. Polifax Spy (1971), Red Sky at Morning (1971), Psychic Killer (1975), Voyage of the Damned (1976), and Deadly Harvest (1977).
In the Eighties Mr. Perssoff guest starred on the TV shows Barney Miller, The Fisher Family, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Magnum P.I.., Hotel, The Facts of Life, Highway to Heaven, Addely, J. J. Starbuck, American Playhouse, MacGyver, L.A. Law, Star Trek: The Next Genreation, Hunter, and Murder She Wrote. He appeared in the movies St. Helens (1981), O'Hara's Wife (1982), Yentl (1983), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Twins (1988). He was the voice of Papa in the animated film An American Tail (1986).
In the Nineties he guest starred on Doogie Howser M.D., Reasonable Doubts, Law & Order, Chicago Hope, and Tracey Takes On... He was the voice of Papa in the animated movie An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. His last appearance was a guest shot on the mini-series Angels in America in 2003.
If Nehemiah Persoff was prolific, it was because he was so versatile. On Mission: Impossible alone he played a prince and ruler of a country, the corrupt finance minister of a country, and a counterfeiter who's also the minister of a country). He played a number of dictators over the yeas, most notably Pancho Hernando Gonzalez Enriques Rodriguez on Gilligan's Island. He also played a number of gangsters, including Little Bonaparte in Some Like It Hot. Not every character played by Nehemiah Persoff was a dictator or gangster, and he could play sympathetic roles. In the Route 66 episode "First Class Mouliak" he played a widower who just wants to see his son educated and his daughter in a good marriage. In the movie Yentl, he plays the father of the title character who secretly teaches her about the Talmud. In Voyage of the Damned he played one of the Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany. Given the era in which he worked, many of the roles Nemehiah Persoff would be considered politically incorrect today, but he always gave a good performance regardless. He had an uncanny knack of transforming himself into any character he chose.
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