Zero Mostel

Samuel Joel Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977), known professionally as Zero Mostel, was an American actor, comedian, and singer noted for his dynamic stage presence and character portrayals in Broadway productions. Born to Jewish immigrant parents in Brooklyn, New York, Mostel began his career as a painter and nightclub performer before transitioning to theater in the early 1940s. His ascent was derailed in the early 1950s when he was blacklisted following denunciations of communist sympathies to the House Un-American Activities Committee, resulting in a professional hiatus that forced him to rely on painting and odd jobs for sustenance. Mostel reemerged in the late 1950s, securing acclaim for dramatic turns such as Jean in Rhinoceros (1961), earning a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play, and comic leads including Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962), which netted him another Tony for Best Actor in a Musical. His most iconic role came as the milkman Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof (1964), a performance that captured the pathos and humor of Jewish life in tsarist Russia and garnered a third Tony Award while solidifying his reputation as a theatrical powerhouse. Beyond stage successes, Mostel contributed to film with memorable appearances, such as the bumbling producer Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks's The Producers (1967), and continued working until his death from a heart attack in Philadelphia during rehearsals for a Fiddler on the Roof revival.

Samuel Joel Mostel was born on February 28, 1915, in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of eight children born to Israel Mostel, an Eastern European Jewish immigrant, and Cina "Celia" Druchs, a Polish Jew raised in Vienna. His family observed Orthodox Judaism, reflecting the religious traditions of their Ashkenazi heritage.

Later that year, on July 2, 1944, Mostel wed Kathryn Cecilia Harkin, a dancer and actress he had met during performances at Radio City Music Hall or the Chez Paree nightclub following a two-year courtship. The marriage, to the Irish Catholic Harkin, prompted his devoutly Orthodox Jewish family to disown him, as they refused to acknowledge or meet her. Despite reported strains, including separate sleeping arrangements and occasional infidelity allegations on Harkin's part, the couple remained together until Mostel's death; they raised two sons, actor Joshua (Josh) Mostel (born 1946) and artist Tobias Mostel (born 1948). Harkin supported Mostel's career by appearing in minor stage roles and managing household affairs amid his blacklist-era hardships.

Mostel had struggled with obesity for much of his adult life, a condition exacerbated by his physically demanding performance style and reportedly hearty appetites. By mid-1977, he had achieved substantial weight loss through an intensive regimen ahead of rehearsals for Arnold Wesker's The Merchant, an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice set in a 16th-century Venetian Jewish ghetto, in which he portrayed Shylock.