Lou Jacobi, Critically Acclaimed Actor of Film and Stage, Dies at 95
Matthew Kruk
Lou Jacobi, Critically Acclaimed Actor of Film and Stage, Dies at 95
By ANITA GATES
Lou Jacobi, the mustachioed, scene-stealing Canadian-born actor and comedian who
made a film and stage career playing comic ethnic characters but was lauded for
serious dramatic roles as well, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was
95.
The death was confirmed by Leonie Nowitz, a social worker who had been
overseeing his care for several years.
Mr. Jacobi made his Broadway debut in 1955 in "The Diary of Anne Frank," playing
a less-than-noble occupant of the Amsterdam attic where the Franks were hiding,
and reprised the role in the 1959 film version. When Bosley Crowther, reviewing
the movie in The New York Times, described Mr. Jacobi as "irksomely sluggish and
pathetically lax as the weakling Van Daan," it was high praise.
As his career continued in New York and Hollywood, spanning five decades, Mr.
Jacobi became accustomed to favorable reviews, mostly in comic roles and often
when the film or play itself was less than warmly received.
When he starred in the short-lived Broadway comedy "Norman, Is That You?" in
1970, Clive Barnes of The Times did not care for the play, but took time to wax
rhapsodic about Mr. Jacobi and his character. "Mr. Jacobi is a very funny actor
who hardly needs lines to make his point," Mr. Barnes wrote. He added: "He has a
face of sublime weariness and the manner of a man who has seen everything, done
nothing and is now only worried about his heartburn."
The 10 Broadway plays Mr. Jacobi appeared in also included Paddy Chayefsky's
"Tenth Man" (1959); Woody Allen's "Don't Drink the Water" (1966); and Neil Simon's
"Come Blow Your Horn" (1961), in which he portrayed the playboy protagonist's
disappointed father. His reading of the line "Aha!" stuck with the Times
columnist William Safire so vividly that he cited it when writing about the
meaning of the word 36 years later.
Mr. Jacobi also made two dozen feature films. His supporting roles included the
philosophical bartender in "Irma la Douce" (1963), the young hero's
unsophisticated uncle in "My Favorite Year" (1982), a lucky florist in the
Dudley Moore comedy "Arthur" (1981) and a middle-aged transvestite who gets
caught with his hostess's clothes on in "Everything You Always Wanted to Know
About Sex" (1972). In Barry Levinson's "Avalon" (1990), he played a dramatic
role, one of four Russian brothers trying to build a future in Baltimore in the
early 20th century.
Louis Harold Jacobovitch was born on Dec. 28, 1913, in Toronto. He began acting
as a boy, making his stage debut in 1924 at a Toronto theater, playing a violin
prodigy in "The Rabbi and the Priest." He did play the violin, then and for most
of his life.
After working as the drama director of a Toronto Y.M.H.A., the social director
at a summer resort, a stand-up comic in Canada's equivalent of the Borscht Belt,
and the entertainment at various weddings and bachelor parties, Mr. Jacobi tried
his luck in London. There he appeared in shows including the American musicals
"Guys and Dolls" and "Pal Joey," and was part of a command performance at the
London Palladium in 1952.
He made his film debut in "Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?" (1953), a
British comedy with the country's blond sex symbol of the moment, Diana Dors. In
the United States, he began making guest appearances on a variety of television
series, ranging from "Playhouse 90" to "'The Man From U.N.C.L.E."' to "That
Girl," and appeared on series and in television movies until he was in his late
70s.
In the summer of 1976, he was the star of a CBS comedy series, "Ivan the
Terrible," in which he played a Russian headwaiter living with nine other people
in a small Moscow apartment. He was a regular on "The Dean Martin Show" on NBC
for two seasons in the early 1970s.
Mr. Jacobi made successful comedy recordings with titles like "Al Tijuana and
His Jewish Brass" and "The Yiddish Are Coming! The Yiddish Are Coming!"
In his last film, "I.Q." (1994), he played the logician Kurt G�del, one of
Albert Einstein's professor friends at Princeton. His last Broadway play was
"Cheaters," a 1978 comedy about two adulterous middle-aged couples.
But he continued to do theater elsewhere. When he appeared in a 1988 Connecticut
production of Clifford Odets's "Rocket to the Moon," at the age of 74, his
reviews were as positive as ever.
Mr. Jacobi married Ruth Ludwin in 1957. She died in 2004. He is survived by a
brother, Avrom Jacobovitch, and a sister, Rae Gold, both of Toronto.
"As you make your way through life, sometimes you happen upon people who know
how to be happy," the film critic Roger Ebert wrote in The Chicago Sun-Times in
1999. He was interviewing Mr. Jacobi on the occasion of the dedication of his
star on Canada's Walk of Fame. "I look at Lou, and I'm not afraid to be 85, if I
can get there in Lou's style."
Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company
Michael O'Connor
> October 25, 2009
> Lou Jacobi, Critically Acclaimed Actor of Film and Stage, Dies at 95
> By ANITA GATES
>
> caught with his hostess's clothes on in "Everything You Always Wanted to Know
> About Sex" (1972).
That was a hilarious sequence:
Michael O'Connor
many years?
R H Draney
>
>On Oct 25, 12:27=A0am, "Matthew Kruk" <anywh...@wind.blows> wrote:
>> October 25, 2009
>> Lou Jacobi, Critically Acclaimed Actor of Film and Stage, Dies at 95
>> By ANITA GATES
>>
>and a middle-aged transvestite who gets
>Know
>> About Sex" (1972).
>
>That was a hilarious sequence:
>
I'm now going to have to re-listen to the "You Don't Have To Be Jewish" and
"When You're In Love, The Whole World Is Jewish" albums....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
Laurie Mann
he was 95, when they only obits I could find at first were in
Wikipedia and a Kansas City newspaper.
He was a wonderfully versatile and very underappreciated actor.
Laurie
marcus
Saw him in a largely forgettable play (can't even remember the name)
with Phyllis Newman and Tony Franciosa about 25 years ago.
He was great...but, the other performers, and the play itself,
weren't.
Who can ever forget his role in "Everything You Wanted To Know About
Sex, But Were Afraid To Ask"?
Laurie Mann
> Who can ever forget his role in "Everything You Wanted To Know About
> Sex, But Were Afraid To Ask"?
Absolutely. That's what I meant by versatile - his comedic abilities
were every bit as strong as his dramatic abilities.
Laurie
Brad Ferguson
<9c497942-7fd1-4cab...@e34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com>,
marcus <marc...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Saw him in a largely forgettable play (can't even remember the name)
> with Phyllis Newman and Tony Franciosa about 25 years ago.
Was that "Rocket to the Moon"? The time's about right: It was a 1983
revival of a 1938 Odets play.
Larc
| October 25, 2009
| Lou Jacobi, Critically Acclaimed Actor of Film and Stage, Dies at 95
| By ANITA GATES
|
| Lou Jacobi, the mustachioed, scene-stealing Canadian-born actor and comedian who
| made a film and stage career playing comic ethnic characters but was lauded for
| serious dramatic roles as well, died on Friday at his home in Manhattan. He was
| 95.
[snip]
| Mr. Jacobi also made two dozen feature films. His supporting roles included the
| philosophical bartender in "Irma la Douce" (1963), the young hero's
| unsophisticated uncle in "My Favorite Year" (1982), a lucky florist in the
| Dudley Moore comedy "Arthur" (1981) and a middle-aged transvestite who gets
| caught with his hostess's clothes on in "Everything You Always Wanted to Know
| About Sex" (1972). In Barry Levinson's "Avalon" (1990), he played a dramatic
| role, one of four Russian brothers trying to build a future in Baltimore in the
| early 20th century.
What a great character actor! As many movies as I saw him in, the line I always
think of when his name comes up is from Avalon. He plays Uncle Gabriel. He and
his wife are invited as usual for Thanksgiving dinner, but they are very late
also as usual. So the feast starts without them. When Gabriel and his wife
show up, he's insulted and complains loudly:
"You already cut da toikey?"
RIP Lou!
Larc
Jim Beaver
"marcus" <marc...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9c497942-7fd1-4cab...@e34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
On Oct 25, 7:36 am, Laurie Mann <laurieman...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The Times bio was very good. I was beginning to wonder, even though
> he was 95, when they only obits I could find at first were in
> Wikipedia and a Kansas City newspaper.
>
> He was a wonderfully versatile and very underappreciated actor.
>
> Laurie
Saw him in a largely forgettable play (can't even remember the name)
with Phyllis Newman and Tony Franciosa about 25 years ago.
He was great...but, the other performers, and the play itself,
weren't.
RESPONSE:
http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/14/theater/stage-rocket-to-moon-is-revivied.html
Clifford Odets's ROCKET TO THE MOON at the Hartman in Stamford CT.
Jim Beaver
marcus
> "marcus" <marcus...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> news:9c497942-7fd1-4cab...@e34g2000vbm.googlegroups.com...
> On Oct 25, 7:36 am, Laurie Mann <laurieman...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The Times bio was very good. I was beginning to wonder, even though
> > he was 95, when they only obits I could find at first were in
> > Wikipedia and a Kansas City newspaper.
>
> > He was a wonderfully versatile and very underappreciated actor.
>
> > Laurie
>
> Saw him in a largely forgettable play (can't even remember the name)
> with Phyllis Newman and Tony Franciosa about 25 years ago.
>
> He was great...but, the other performers, and the play itself,
> weren't.
>
> RESPONSE:
>
>
> Clifford Odets's ROCKET TO THE MOON at the Hartman in Stamford CT.
>
> Jim Beaver
I never would have remembered that...but that is the play, and that is
where I saw it, in October 1983, on a Saturday night, one day before
going to a good friend's Big Jewish Wedding.
Lou would have been comfortable there.
Hyfler/Rosner
"Larc" <la...@notmyaddress.com> wrote in message
> What a great character actor! As many movies as I saw him
> in, the line I always
> think of when his name comes up is from Avalon. He plays
> Uncle Gabriel. He and
> his wife are invited as usual for Thanksgiving dinner, but
> they are very late
> also as usual. So the feast starts without them. When
> Gabriel and his wife
> show up, he's insulted and complains loudly:
>
> "You already cut da toikey?"
>
You left out the most important point. They never spoke to
each other again.
Linda B:)
My fav memory of him is as the guy caught in the TV in Amazon Women on
the Moon. One of my fav movies - just watched it again last week.
Murray?