
Acting
Zero Mostel
Born — Died
1915-02-28 — 1977-08-08
Place of birth
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Known for
Acting
Credits
50 titles
Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye onstage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus onstage and onscreen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of The Producers. He was blacklisted during the 1950s, and his testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities was well-publicized. He was a Tony Award and Obie Award winner.
Known for
7.6The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
6.8No synopsis available yet.
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
6.8The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
6.8The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
7.3The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977. After it ceased production that year, the program continued in reruns from 1977 to 1985, the result of a decision made in 1975 to produce two final seasons for perpetual use. CTW produced the show at Teletape Studios Second Stage in Manhattan, the first home of Sesame Street. The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. It was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street. Appropriately, the humor was more mature than what was seen there.
The Electric Company
1971
Film credits
2010s · 2 titles
8.1Mel Brooks: Make a Noise journeys through Brooks’ early years in the creative beginnings of live television — with Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows — to the film genres he so successfully satirized in Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, High Anxiety, and Spaceballs — to the groundbreaking Broadway musical version of his first film, The Producers. The documentary also delves into his professional and personal ups and downs — his childhood, his first wife and subsequent 41-year marriage to Anne Bancroft — capturing a never-before-heard sense of reflection and confession.
Mel Brooks: Make a Noise
2013
6.4At the age of 91, Mel Brooks is unstoppable, with his musical "Young Frankenstein" opening to great critical acclaim in London in late 2017. Alan Yentob visits Mel at home in Hollywood, at work and at play.
Mel Brooks: Unwrapped
2018
2000s · 3 titles
7.2Broadway royalty and Tony-winners Tommy Tune, Carol Channing, Robert Goulet, and Harvey Fierstein are your hosts for this third compilation of great musical performances from the archives of the Tony Award® broadcasts. Legendary stars from legendary shows strut their stuff in 23 performances that have become part of Broadway history.
Broadway's Lost Treasures III: The Best of The Tony Awards
2005
5.0A documentary about the portrayal of Adolf Hitler in popular culture.
Hitler: The Comedy Years
2007
6.4The golden age of the annual Tony Awards ceremony lasted from 1967 to 1986 — the period during which Alexander H. Cohen and his wife, Hildy Parks, were the producers of the show. This film offers a compilation of performances from Tony Award broadcasts during those years. They are presented with color-corrected footage and digitally re-mastered sound.
Broadway's Lost Treasures
2003
1980s · 2 titles
7.2Fozzie and Kermit have come across a priceless collection of great moments in the career of the Muppets. This collection features many Muppet TV segments, including episodes of "Pigs in Space," and "Veterinarian's Hospital."
Muppet Treasures
1985
6.1For the first time in their careers, all the Muppets (except the ones that couldn't make it, like the Doozers, Gorgs and most of the Fraggles) have gathered together in one place to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary and honor the one who brought them together: Kermit the Frog (and by doing so, Jim Henson).
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
1986
1970s · 15 titles
7.2When the warren belonging to a community of rabbits is threatened, a brave group led by Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry and Hazel leave their homeland in a search of a safe new haven.
Watership Down
1978
6.5Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...
The Hot Rock
1972
7.1A cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.
The Front
1976
6.0U.S geologist discovers something about Oil that proves VERY threatening to the Turkish and Arab business people.
Journey into Fear
1975
7.0A combination of live action and animation chronicinge the great journey of Marco Polo to the mysterious Orient. Much of the story centers on Polo's relationship with the powerful Kublai Khan.
Marco
1973
6.1Aaron, the drummer boy, struggles to protect a bellmaker's great silver bells from seizure by Roman soldiers
The Little Drummer Boy: Book II
1976
3.8A three-part omnibus centered around sex and its discontents.
Fore Play
1975
5.4Morris Mishkin is a elderly religious Jew in New York. His wife Fanny is very ill. He's a tailor, but he can't work because his back has given out. He doesn't even have enough money for Fanny's medicine. Finally, a black fellow appears from nowhere in the Mishkin kitchen. He says he's an angel from God, sent to help Mishkin. The black angel is even Jewish, named Alex Levine? But will Morris believe in the angel? And can the angel perform the miracle that he promises?
The Angel Levine
1970
9.0A musical TV special with Vince Edwards as a hero who must stop gold-greedy villains, Jill St. John and Zero Mostel, and prove his love to his girl, Lesley Ann Warren.
Saga of Sonora
1973
5.6A boozing young man in love with his co-worker finds that everyone around him, even his pompous and condescending best friend, is changing into a rhinoceros.
Rhinoceros
1974
5.4After falling for Alicia, greedy and powerful Mexican landowner Carlos has her fiancé thrown in prison on a bogus charge. To trick Carlos into releasing her man, Alicia teams up with her Aunt Delfina and tries to convince Carlos that he's a ghost.
Once Upon a Scoundrel
1974
6.3An opera singer, dressed in full costume and dress, must navigate through the busy city streets to get to the theater in time for his performance. Filmed for the shelved portmanteau film 'Red, White and Zero' in 1967.
Ride of the Valkyrie
1977
4.8Zero Mostel plays an inspector on the trail of criminals who have captured a robot called Chatze(sp?) played by Felix Silas. The inspector has delusions that he is a great Samurai warrior and the movie flashes back and forth between present day and ancient times.
Mastermind
1976
NRA forest ranger is asked by his boss to attract a record-breaking crowd to Yellowstone National Park. Various celebrities are enlisted to help.
Old Faithful
1973
6.6In this documentary, the director follows the day-to-day activities of his intellectually disabled, middle-aged cousin Philly over a three-year period.
Best Boy
1979
1960s · 7 titles
7.1A conniving Broadway producer and his meek accountant plan to profit from charming wealthy old biddies to invest in an overbudget production, and then put on a sure-fire disaster, so nobody will ask for their money back — and what's more disastrous than a tasteless musical celebrating Adolf Hitler.
The Producers
1968
6.1A wily slave must unite a virgin courtesan and his young smitten master to earn his freedom.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
1966
6.6A motley group of phony church leaders attempts to rob a bank controlled by brothers in 1880's Texas.
The Great Bank Robbery
1969
5.0Composed of three shorts – Ride of the Valkyrie, The White Bus, and Red and Blue – from three of Britain’s most-celebrated directors - Lindsay Anderson, Peter Brook, and Tony Richardson. Comic legend Zero Mostel stars as an opera singer (in full costume) navigating the London transport network as he attempts to reach Covent Garden in 'Ride of the Valkyrie'. Scripted by Shelagh Delaney, 'The White Bus' blends realism, drama, and poetry as a despondent young woman travels home to the North of England. And Vanessa Redgrave stars in Tony Richardson’s romantic reverie and musical featurette 'Red and Blue'. Produced in 1967, but ultimately shelved.
Red, White, and Zero
1968
6.0Two derelicts occupy themselves as they wait for 'Godot' to make an appearance on Pozzo's estate.
Waiting for Godot
1961
5.9When British Capt. Charles Edstaston arrives at the court of Catherine the Great in St. Petersburg, Russia, he is stunned by the palace's disorderly condition. The severely intoxicated Prince Potemkin concludes that the handsome Edstaston would be a suitable lover for Catherine, and he coerces the bewildered visitor into her bedchamber. Edstaston manages to escape, but he is repeatedly recaptured and delivered to the mischievous Catherine.
Great Catherine
1968
10.0Carol + 2 was the title of the second of a multi-year series of television variety specials starring Carol Burnett which aired on the CBS Television network in the United States between 1962 and 1989. The first special was produced in 1962, featuring Burnett and Julie Andrews. Carol + 2 premiered on March 22, 1966, with Carol joined by actor Zero Mostel and the legendary Lucille Ball. The program was such a critical and ratings success that CBS rebroadcast it on January 15, 1967.
Carol + 2
1966
1950s · 7 titles
6.0A mysterious American gets mixed up with gunrunners in Syria.
Sirocco
1951
6.9A medical examiner discovers that an innocent shooting victim in a robbery died of bubonic plague. With only 48 hours to find the killer, who is now a ticking time bomb threatening the entire city, a grisly manhunt through the seamy underworld of the New Orleans Waterfront is underway.
Panic in the Streets
1950
7.1After years of investigation, Assistant District Attorney Martin Ferguson has managed to build a solid case against an elusive gangster whose top lieutenant is about to testify.
The Enforcer
1951
6.5A marriage broker can't resist meddling in the life of a model, with disastrous results.
The Model and the Marriage Broker
1951
6.2Former football star Harry Joplin is down on his luck, both in his career and in his married life. He seems convinced of his own unworthiness, but a chance to play in a charity football game helps him see his life in a new light.
The Guy Who Came Back
1951
7.2Posing as a man over 70, a lecturer (Clifton Webb) enters an old-folks home to prove age is a state of mind.
Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell
1951
9.0This omnibus release consists of three playlets filmed and aired during television's Golden Age, and starring some of the legends of film and television. The collection originally ran as a two-hour segment on December 14, 1959, on the anthology series The Play of the Week, broadcast locally in New York City via the independent radio station WNTA. Each "tale" in the anthology was adapted from a single tale by the inimitable Sholom Aleichem, regarded by many as the "Yiddish Mark Twain". Included are: "A Tale of Chelm" starring Zero Mostel and Nancy Walker in the story of a bookseller attempting to buy a goat; "Bontche Schweig" about a poor man (Jack Gilford) whose recent arrival in Heaven makes the angels cry; and "The High School" about a Jewish merchant (Morris Carnovsky) persuaded by his wife (Gertrude Berg) to let their son attend a particular high school despite the enforcement of quotas for Jewish students.
The World of Sholom Aleichem
1959
Series credits
7.6The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
1962
6.8No synopsis available yet.
The Merv Griffin Show
1962
6.8The Dick Cavett Show has been the title of several talk shows hosted by Dick Cavett on various television networks.
The Dick Cavett Show
1968
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
NRThe Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances, and an award is given for regional theatre.
Tony Awards
1956
6.8The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
The Ed Sullivan Show
1948
7.3The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977. After it ceased production that year, the program continued in reruns from 1977 to 1985, the result of a decision made in 1975 to produce two final seasons for perpetual use. CTW produced the show at Teletape Studios Second Stage in Manhattan, the first home of Sesame Street. The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. It was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street. Appropriately, the humor was more mature than what was seen there.
The Electric Company
1971
5.1The Flip Wilson Show is an hour long variety show that aired in the U.S. on NBC from September 17, 1970 to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs starring a black person in the title role to become highly successful with a white audience. Specifically, it was the first successful network variety series starring an African American. During its first two seasons, its Nielsen ratings made it the nation's second most watched show. The show consisted of many skits over an hour. It also broke new ground in American television by using a 'Theatre-in-the-Round' stage format, with the audience seated on all sides of a circular performance area. Wilson was most famous for creating the role of Geraldine Jones, a sassy, modern woman who had a boyfriend named Killer. Flip also created the role of Reverend Leroy, who was the minister of the Church of What's Happening Now!. New parishioners were wary of coming to the church as it was hinted that Reverend Leroy was a con artist. Wilson popularized such catchphrases as "What you see is what you get", and "The devil made me do it!".
The Flip Wilson Show
1970
6.8An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968
6.8An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
1968
8.0Go behind the curtains as Kermit the Frog and his muppet friends struggle to put on a weekly variety show.
The Muppet Show
1976


