Nehemiah Persoff

	Nehemiah Persoff
	; Nehemiah Persoff (1960)
	Background information
Born	Aug 02, 1919; Jerusalem, British Mandate of Palestine
Died	Apr 05, 2022 - at age 103; San Luis Obispo, California, United States; Heart failure
Spouse(s):	Thia Persoff; (1951 - 2012) died of cancer
Children:	4 (Jeffrey, Dan, Perry, and Dahlia)
Occupation:	Actor and painter
Yrs active:	1948–2003

Military Service World War II
Allegiance :	United States of America
Branch:	United States Army
Command(s):	Special Services for entertainment
Served:	1942–1945

	Note: This is an abridged Wikipedia articleSee: Nehemiah Persoff on Wikipedia

Nehemiah Persoff (August 2, 1919 – April 5, 2022) was an American actor and painter. He appeared in over 200 television series, films, and theater productions, and he also worked as a voice artist during a career that spanned 55 years.

His first acting role was as an extra in The Naked City (1948). Persoff is best known for roles as Leo in The Harder They Fall (1956), as Little Bonaparte in Some Like It Hot (1959), as Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik in The Untouchables (1959–1963), as Rebbe Mendel in Yentl (1983), and as the voice of Papa Mousekewitz in the animated film An American Tail (1986) and its sequels. He also made appearances on episodes of The Twilight Zone, Gilligan's Island, Hawaii Five-O, Adam-12, and Law & Order.

Early life and education

Persoff was born to Shmuel Persoff and Puah Holman in Jerusalem in 1919. His father, Shmuel, was a silversmith, jeweler, and art teacher originally from Chernihiv, in the Russian Empire (now Ukraine). His mother, Puah, was a Palestinian Jew. Shmuel believed there were better opportunities for himself and his family in the United States, so in 1923, he immigrated alone. By 1929, he had achieved financial stability in New York City and sponsored the immigration of his wife and three sons—Boaz, Avraham, and Nehemiah—and two daughters, Tamar and Geula. Initially, the family resided in an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, before eventually moving to The Bronx. They communicated in Yiddish and Hebrew at home. Persoff's parents later returned to Israel.

Military service

Persoff attended the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York City, graduating as a certified electrician in 1937. In 1942, he was drafted into the United States Army and served for the remainder of World War II; he was assigned to the Special Services for entertainment. After he completed his military service, he took up an electrician's job as a subway signal maintenance worker in New York City.

Personal life

In 1951, Persoff married Thia Persov, who had served as a nurse with the Palmach, the elite fighting force of the Haganah, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. She died of cancer in 2021. The couple had four children: Jeffrey, Dan, Perry, and Dahlia.