Leo Fuchs (May 15, 1911 – December 31, 1994) was a Polish-born American actor.Mendelovitch, Bernard (January 18, 1995). "Leo Fuchs" (obituary). The Independent. independent.co.uk. Retrieved November 10, 2018. According to YIVO, he was born Avrum Leib Fuchs in Warsaw;Leo Fuchs papers, Guide to the YIVO Archives. YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. yivoarchives.org. Retrieved October 31, 2018. according to Joel Schechter, he was born in Lwów, Galicia, then Poland, now called Lviv, Ukraine. Schechter (2008), p. 180.
Fuchs performed in many Yiddish and English plays and movies throughout the mid-twentieth century, and was famed as a comic, a dancer, and a coupletist. He wrote much of his own material and toured widely.
Early life Fuchs was born into a Yiddish theatrical family: his father, Yakov Fuchs, was a character actor; his mother, Róża Fuchs (Ruzha Fuchs),Zalmen Zylbercweig, Leksikon fun Yidishn teater, Book five, 4053 was "a leading lady of the musical theatre who perished in the Holocaust of the 1940s," shot dead by Nazi Germans.Yonas Turkow, Farloshene shtern, book 2, p 83–87 He began acting (in Polish) when he was five years old, and was praised when he performed at the Warsaw cabaret when he was 17.
Career His American debut was at the Second Avenue Theater in the Yiddish Theater District in Lucky Boy with Moishe Oysher in 1929.Leo Fuchs: Born Laybl Springer in Lemberg . Caraid O'Brien, 2nd Avenue site. Retrieved May 26, 2015. He moved to New York City in 1935. In his prime, he was known as "The Yiddish Fred Astaire",Lugowski, p. 63.Friedman, p. 36. appearing both on Broadway and in film. In 1936, he married fellow actor Mirele Gruber and toured with her through Poland for a year. In 1937, he made two movies, the short I Want to Be a Boarder (in which he sang his famous song Trouble) and I Want to Be a Mother with Yetta Zwerling. In 1940, he starred in Amerikaner Shadkhen (American Matchmaker).Leo Fuchs bio at IMDb. Retrieved May 26, 2015. He divorced in 1941 and later married Rebecca Richman.
Starting in the 1960s, Fuchs performed in English-language plays and television, as well as Hollywood films, including The Story of Ruth (1960). Two of his best-known roles were in The Frisco Kid (1979), in which he played with Gene Wilder, and as Hymie Krichinsky in the film Avalon (1990). He died in Los Angeles in 1994.
Filmography Movies Year Title Role Notes1937 I Want to Be a Mother Khaim Bok 1940 Americaner Shadchen Nat Silver / Uncle Shya 1941 Mazel Tov Yidden 1950 Monticello, Here We Come 1960 The Story of Ruth Sochin 1972 Awake and Sing Jacob PBS - TV 1979 The Frisco Kid Chief Rabbi 1990 Avalon Hymie Krichinsky (final film role)
Television Year Title Role Notes1961 The Tab Hunter Show Pandro Tremaine Episode "The Movie Set" (alternate title "A Star Is Born")1962 Wagon Train Mr. Levy Episode "The Levy-McGowan Story"1963 Mister Ed Mr. Rasmussen Episode "Patter of Little Hooves"1970 Green Acres Uncle Fedor Episode "Uncle Fedor"1972Sanford and Son Herman GoldsteinEpisode “The Shootout”
References
Bibliography Friedman, Jonathan C. Rainbow Jews: Jewish and Gay Identity in the Performing Arts. Plymouth, UK: Lexington, 2007. Lugowski, David. "'Pintele' Queer: The Performance of Jewish Male Heterosexuality in Yiddish American Cinema of the Great Depression." In Griffin, Sean. Hetero: Queering Representations of Straightness. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2009. 53–70. Schechter, Joel. Messiahs of 1933: How American Yiddish Theatre Survived Adversity through Satire. Philadelphia, PA: Temple UP, 2008.
External links
There are several Leo Fuchs songs on NYU's Yiddish Theater archive: Hopalong Knish You Gotta Cut Off His Head The Yiddisher Chinaman