IF I WERE A DITCHED MAN
Fiddler on the Roof star Topol dover, aged 87. He had been a presence in Israeli acting troupes throughout the 60s, but it was his charmingly folksy turn as the elderly impoverished milkman Tevye in Fiddler where he made his most enduring impact. He had already been playing the character on the stage, but initially seemed a longshot for the Norman Jewison film version given his youth and how synonymous Zero Mostel was with the character. Topol won out as Jewison felt Mostel’s oversized personality would eclipse the film. The risk paid off and Topol became such an iconic Tevye in his own right that he drove the buggy north of 3,500 times on the stage for the rest of his years.
Now secured as the most famous Israeli actor of his generation, subsequent Hollywood roles included Galileo, rocket scientist and Flash ally Dr. Hans Zarkov in Flash Gordon, and smuggler Bond ally Milos Columbo in For Your Eyes Only. Last year his family announced he was in the latter stages of Alzheimer’s, and now three teams reap the reward. Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum…
Topol
9 September 1935 – 9 March 2023, aged 87
3 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀 6 POINTS)