Nehemiah Persoff

Acting

Nehemiah Persoff

Born 1919-08-02 · Jerusalem, Palestine Mandate

Nehemiah Persoff was an American film and television actor. Persoff emigrated with his family from Palestine to the United States in 1929. He began to take an interest in acting in the 1940s, and after serving in the Army during World War II, he began to pursue his acting career in the New York Theater. In 1947, he was accepted into the Actor's Studio and eventually began appearing in films. His film credits include: On the Waterfront, Some Like It Hot, Al Capone, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Voyage of the Damned, The Comancheros, Yentl (portraying Barbra Streisand's character's father), Twins and the American Tail (animated-film series) (voiced, "Papa Mousekewitz"). Persoff appeared in such television series as, Five Fingers ("The Moment of Truth"), The Big Valley ("Legend of a General", Parts I & II, episode), The Twilight Zone ("Judgment Night" episode), Alfred Hitchcock Presents ("Heart of Gold" episode), The Untouchables, Naked City, The Legend of Jesse James, Gunsmoke, The Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of the Pharaoh's Curse" episode), Mission: Impossible (3 episodes), Adam-12 ("Vendetta" episode), Charlie's Angels, Hunter, Columbo, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Magnum, P.I., Law & Order and Chicago Hope. In the mid-1980s, Persoff began to pursue painting, specializing in watercolour. This was at a time when health problems forced him to decrease his acting workload.

Acting credits

Some Like It Hot poster
8.1

In Prohibition-era Chicago, musicians Joe and Jerry witness a mob hit, and flee the state in an all-female band disguised as Josephine and Daphne, but further complications set in.

Some Like It Hot

1959

The Last Temptation of Christ poster
7.2

Jesus, a humble Judean carpenter beginning to see that he is the son of God, is drawn into revolutionary action against the Roman occupiers by Judas -- despite his protestations that love, not violence, is the path to salvation. The burden of being the savior of mankind torments Jesus throughout his life, leading him to doubt.

The Last Temptation of Christ

1988

The Greatest Story Ever Told poster
6.4

From his birth in Bethlehem to his death and eventual resurrection, the life of Jesus Christ is given the all-star treatment in this epic retelling. Major aspects of Christ's life are touched upon, including the execution of all the newborn males in Egypt by King Herod; Christ's baptism by John the Baptist; and the betrayal by Judas after the Last Supper that eventually leads to Christ's crucifixion and miraculous return.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

1965

Twins poster
6.1

Julius and Vincent Benedict are the results of an experiment that would allow for the perfect child. Julius was planned and grows to athletic proportions. Vincent is an accident and is somewhat smaller in stature. Vincent is placed in an orphanage while Julius is taken to a south seas island and raised by philosophers. Vincent becomes the ultimate low life and is about to be killed by loan sharks.

Twins

1988

An American Tail poster
6.8

A young mouse named Fievel and his family decide to migrate to America, a "land without cats," at the turn of the 20th century. But somehow, Fievel ends up in the New World alone and must fend off not only the felines he never thought he'd have to deal with again but also the loneliness of being away from home.

An American Tail

1986

On the Waterfront poster
7.9

A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.

On the Waterfront

1954

Voyage of the Damned poster
6.0

A luxury liner carries Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany in a desperate fight for survival.

Voyage of the Damned

1976

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West poster
6.3

Some time after the Mousekewitz's have settled in America, they find that they are still having problems with the threat of cats. That makes them eager to try another home out in the west, where they are promised that mice and cats live in peace. Unfortunately, the one making this claim is an oily con artist named Cat R. Waul who is intent on his own sinister plan.

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

1991

An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island poster
6.3

Fievel and his friend Tony Toponi find a map that they believe points to a treasure buried somewhere beneath Old New York, and the plucky rodent is determined to find it. However, what he discovers under the city is a tribe of Native American mice who were driven underground by prejudiced European immigrants.

An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island

1998

The Comancheros poster
6.7

Texas Ranger Jake Cutter arrests gambler Paul Regret, but soon finds himself teamed with his prisoner in an undercover effort to defeat a band of renegade arms merchants and thieves known as Comancheros.

The Comancheros

1961

Yentl poster
6.7

In a time when girls were forbidden to study religious scriptures, a Jewish girl masquerades as a boy to enter religious training and unexpectedly finds love along the way.

Yentl

1983

Green Mansions poster
5.7

A young Venezuelan idealist flees his native land to escape a revolution. Hoping to find peace, he goes to the mountains and the forests of the Amazon. There he encounters Rima, the Bird Girl, an orphan living a life of nature, who is feared by a local jungle tribe.

Green Mansions

1959

The Wrong Man poster
7.1

In 1953, an innocent man named Christopher Emmanuel "Manny" Balestrero is arrested after being mistaken for an armed robber.

The Wrong Man

1956

The Harder They Fall poster
7.2

Jobless sportswriter Eddie Willis is hired by corrupt fight promoter Nick Benko to promote his current protégé, an unknown Argentinian boxer named Toro Moreno. Although Moreno is a hulking giant, his chances for success are hampered by a powder-puff punch and a glass jaw. Exploiting Willis' reputation for integrity and standing in the boxing community, Benko arranges a series of fixed fights that propel the unsophisticated Moreno to #1 contender for the championship. The reigning champ, the sadistic Buddy Brannen, harbors resentment at the publicity Toro has been receiving and vows to viciously punish him in the ring. Eddie must now decide whether or not to tell the naive Toro the truth.

The Harder They Fall

1956

An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster poster
6.3

Follow the clues to fun and excitement as the beloved little mouse takes on a big monster in this charming, full-length adventure. When a ferocious, mouse-nabbing creature puts fear into the hearts of New York City's rodents, Fievel and his friends team up with a reporter to chase after the scoop of the century and -- just maybe -- get a close-up look at the bad guy himself!

An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster

1999

Fate Is the Hunter poster
6.5

An airline executive refuses to believe that pilot error, by his friend, caused a fatal crash and persists in looking for another reason.

Fate Is the Hunter

1964

The Power poster
6.3

One by one members of a special project team are being killed by telekinesis - the ability to move things with the power of the mind alone. The race is on to determine which of the remaining team members is the murderer and to stop them.

The Power

1968

Al Capone poster
6.6

In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.

Al Capone

1959

Men in War poster
6.6

In Korea, on 6 September 1950, Lieutenant Benson's platoon finds itself isolated in enemy-held territory after a retreat. Soon they are joined by Sergeant Montana, whose overriding concern is caring for his catatonic colonel. Benson and Montana can't stand each other, but together they must get the survivors to Hill 465, where they hope the division is waiting. It's a long, harrowing march, fraught with all the dangers the elusive enemy can summon.

Men in War

1957

The Badlanders poster
6.2

Two men are released from the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma in 1898. One, The Dutchman, is out to get both gold and revenge from certain people in a small mining town who had him imprisoned unjustly. The other, McBain, is just trying to go straight, but that is easier said than done once The Dutchman involves him in his gold theft scheme. Based on the 1949 novel The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett, the story is given an 1898 setting. It is the second film adaptation of the novel following 1950's noir classic The Asphalt Jungle.

The Badlanders

1958

Day of the Outlaw poster
6.8

Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.

Day of the Outlaw

1959

The Day of the Owl poster
7.1

Set in Sicily, this violent crime drama tells the tale of an Italian cop who heads to a small island town to look into the death of a construction supplier. Once there he is shocked by the influence the Mafia has over the people and even himself.

The Day of the Owl

1968

St. Helens poster
6.0

Centers on the events leading up to the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington, with the story beginning on the day volcanic activity started on March 20, 1980, and ending on the day of the eruption, May 18, 1980.

St. Helens

1982

The Thief poster
4.0

The son of a French aristocrat is accused of stealing his father's money and of stealing his step-sister's heart.

The Thief

1955