Zero Mostel is a great American actor, winner of the Tony, Obie and Drama Desk theater awards. He received the greatest popularity as a performer of comedy roles. In particular, he played the unlucky producer Max Białystok in Mel Brooks's The Producers and Tevye the Milkman in the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof.
Childhood and youth
Zero Mostel (real name - Samuel Joel Mostel) was born in February 1915 in New York into a Jewish family. Both the father (his name was Israel Mostel) and the mother (her name is Tsina Drukhs) of the future actor were immigrants from Eastern Europe.
The Mostel family had eight children, and Samuel was the seventh oldest. Little Samuel, judging by the recollections of relatives, was a cheerful child with a developed sense of humor. From an early age, the boy was distinguished by remarkable intellectual abilities, and his father hoped that when he grew up, he would become a rabbi. However, Mostel decided to choose another field of activity - art.
He first worked in painting and graphics at The Educational Alliance, and then continued his education in the same profile at City College (New York). He graduated from it with a bachelor's degree in 1935. To pursue art further, he applied for a master's degree. In addition to this, he managed to become the recipient of a scholarship from the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP).
Mostel's life in the late thirties and early forties
In 1939, Samuel Mostel married a certain Clara Swerd, and they began to live together in the famous New York borough of Brooklyn. However, soon the marriage union broke up: Clara did not want to put up with the frequent absence of her husband and the low, by her standards, the level of his income. They parted in fact in 1941, and finally their divorce proceedings ended in 1944.
Mostel, as a PWAP Fellow, had to give lectures on art history in galleries in New York. Unlike other lecturers, Samuel Mostel joked a lot and talentedly, and gained some popularity thanks to his humor. Soon, Zero Mostel began to be invited for money to various events to entertain the public.
In 1941, representatives of the Manhattan nightclub Cafe Society offered Mostel to work for them as a comedian. Within a few months, his performances became the main "feature" of this institution. In 1942, Mostel's weekly wages soared from $ 40 to $ 450. He then starred in two Broadway projects and appeared in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Dubarry Was a Lady.
In March 1943, Mostel was drafted into the American troops. According to the available documents, he served only six months and was fired in August 1943 for medical reasons. At the same time, it is known that Mostel, even after the official dismissal from the army, gave absolutely free concerts for military personnel.
In July 1944, Mostel married a second time to the chorus girl Catherine Harkin. In 1946, Katherine gave birth to a boy from a comedian named Joshua (when he grew up, he also became an artist). And in 1948 the couple had another son - Tobias. Of course, the spouses had problems: Samuel spent a lot of time (to the detriment of family matters) on rehearsals and working out their numbers, and Catherine did not like it. Friends described their relationship as difficult, with violent quarrels. But with all this, Catherine and Samuel loved each other and lived together until his death.
The success of the comedian and actor in the first years after the war
After the war, Zero Mostel's career reached a new level. He has appeared in a number of performances, musicals and films. Journalists and critics recognized him as a versatile performer who could brilliantly prove himself both in productions based on the plays of the classics and on the stages of nightclubs.
And in 1946, he seriously tried to become a singer, taking part in the "Beggar's Opera", but few people paid attention to this performance.
From a certain point, the comedian began to work a lot on TV. In 1948, on WABD-TV, he and comedian Joey Fay hosted his own program called Off The Record. In the fall of 1948, Mostel launched another TV project on WPIX, Channel Zero, and on May 11, 1949, he appeared in the legendary Ed Sullivan Show.
Getting into the "black list" and further creativity
In 1951, Mostel played in five Hollywood films at once. And then there was a nuisance - he was entered into a "black list" drawn up by the so-called McCarthyists. The actor was suspected of supporting the communists. As a result, he lost his job in cinema and on TV for several years.
On August 14, 1955, Mostel arrived on call for questioning by the Commission of Inquiry on Anti-American Activities. The actor defended himself on his own, since the services of a lawyer were too expensive for him. This interrogation has become one of the most talked about events of the "witch hunt" in the United States. And in this case, Zero behaved very dignified and more than once, thanks to his sparkling humor, put his opponents in their place.
Mostel's new notable work appeared only in 1957 - he was entrusted to play Leo Bloom in the play "Ulysses in the City at Night", based on the great novel by Joyce. The premiere took place in a modest Off-Off-Broadway theater. However, Mostel's performance suddenly became well-known and highly praised by critics. Ultimately Mostel even won the Obie Award for Best Performance in an Off-Broadway Production.
In 1959, as the influence of the McCarthy proponent began to fade, he was shown twice on TV in The Play of the Week.
In the sixties, Zero Mostel performed, perhaps, his best theatrical roles. In 1961 he played Jean in an absurd play based on Ionesco's play "Rhino". His performance in this production became a real sensation. In the end, Mostel even received a Tony Award (the first in his life) for Best Actor, although, if you look, this role was not even the main one.
In 1962, Mostel began rehearsing the role of Pseudol in the production A Funny Accident on the Way to the Forum. Initially, he considered this role unpromising and unsuitable for himself, but in the end, his wife and agent insisted that he take it. And they were right: Mostel's performance was very well received. On the whole, the performance turned out to be extremely successful (in total, it was shown about 1000 times). In addition, thanks to his work in this performance, Zero Mostel again became the owner of Tony, thereby confirming his status as a theatrical star. And four years later, in 1966, he reappeared as Pseudolus - this time in the film adaptation of the musical, directed by filmmaker Richard Lester.
On September 22, 1964, Mostel took the stage as the milkman Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on the stories of the Jewish writer Sholem Aleichem. For this role, Mostel was awarded the Tony Award statuette for the third time and was invited to a gala reception at the presidential residence - the White House.
In 1968, Mostel convincingly played Grigory Potemkin in the film about the life of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great. In the same year he performed his most famous film role - the role of Max Białystok in Mel Brooks's debut film The Producers. The image of Białystok really turned out to be very memorable and vivid, and the tape itself eventually became a classic.
In the seventies, Mostel did not have the same outstanding achievements on the stage as before. And the most notable work of Mostel in the cinema during this period was the role of Hecky Brown in the film "The Frontman" (1976). Unfortunately, this was the last film role in his biography.
Circumstances of death
Zero Mostel ended up in the hospital after falling in a theater locker room in Philadelphia. Doctors discovered Mostel's breathing problems, but at the same time they assured that nothing threatened his life. They planned to discharge him soon. However, on September 8, 1977, the actor felt dizzy, and then fainted and died. The doctors were unable to save him. The official cause of death is aortic dissection.
Mostel's relatives decided not to arrange a lavish funeral. The body of the comedian was cremated, there is no information about where his ashes are.
