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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsI have just lost a friend and the world lost a giant of song, stage and film
Theo Bikel, 1924-2015 RIP
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Theodor Bikel, an Austrian Jew born in Vienna in 1924, was doing theater before he emigrated to the USA. A brilliant linguist, he used to say he spoke 35 languages, 17 of which were Yiddish.
A great actor, he had a role in "The African Queen" with Humphrey Bogart before I was even born. He played the Soviet submarine captain in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!" which was of my favorite films of the 1960s. He played in "The Sound of Music," and was a memorable Tevye in "Fiddler On The Roof" for countless times on the Stage. I was there for his "Theodore Bikel, the first 85 years" concert in Carnegie Hall in 2009, and got to meet Tom Paxton and Peter Yarrow and Noel ("Paul" Stuckey (Mary Travers was ill and died shorty afterward). Theo was a brilliant folk singer, and was featured at the Newport Folk Festival in the 1960s along with Bob Dylan. He had roles in TV series like "Dynasty" and "Law And Order." He was EVERYWHERE. In his last years, he did a lot of Yiddish theater in Poland and Israel.
One time, when we had just celebrated the New Year, Theo told me, "get your guitar. We will sing Russian songs." So, I got my guitar, he grabbed his, and we snuck off to an empty room in the hotel we were staying in, and played duets of Russian folk songs for nearly an hour. Here, one of my all time musical heroes invites ME to play a duet! At 1 AM on January first, a concert that would have sold out a medium sized hall in New York, Los Angeles, or probably even Tel Aviv for all I know (I've never been to Israel), took place in a small conference room of a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. The audience consisted of my wife and two local janitors who had no clue who Theo was, or what we were singing, but they sure knew that one of us (namely Theo), was amazingly good at what he was doing. To me, a lover of old Russian folk songs, this was the equivalent of being offered to do a guitar duet with Eric Clapton or Mark Knopfler or Leo Kottke. It was like Jaco Pastorius inviting an amateur bassist to come up on stage and do "Birdland" with him.
Theo didn't instantly warm to new acquaintances. We were introduced by Suzie Katz, a professional photographer from San Francisco and a mutual friend. But we had SO many mutual interests, it didn't take long before we became friends, too. I'm not Bob Dylan or Humphrey Bogart or anything, but we had plenty of musical tastes in common, and that makes up for plenty if you're a musician.
Auf Wiedersehen, alter Freund, Du wirst vermisst.
MuseRider
(34,311 posts)RIP Mr. Bikel and thanks for all the entertainment. You made a difference.
irisblue
(33,789 posts)CBGLuthier
(12,723 posts)and I am sure he got a lot of new fans in his role as Worf's adoptive father on Star Trek TNG.
Great talent, glad he had a nice long run but he will be missed.
Bertha Venation
(21,484 posts)Maybe it's small comfort, but you are not alone in your grief. Mr. Bikel was a giant. I didn't know he was a guitarist.
I hope you're able to sleep well, knowing that your friend was dearly beloved.
DFW
(55,977 posts)I know the mark(s) he made, the legend he was. I knew how ill he was and that he wouldn't survive forever. But when a man like that was already making his mark on the world while I was being born, well, you just NEVER imagine they one day won't be there any more.
Capt.Rocky300
(1,005 posts)you were fortunate to have such an extraordinary friend.
DFW
(55,977 posts)I mentioned he was ill. I knew he had terminal cancer, but I didn't knew how close he was.
I had a small circle of four amazing elderly friends who had made a mark on history: a journalist, an entertainer, a storyteller and a specialist doctor. The journalist (Helen Thomas) and the entertainer (Theo) are now gone. The storyteller (Stan Lee) and the doctor (Ruth Westheimer) are still around. Stan will be 93 this December and Ruth was 87 in June. I hope they both stick around. Curiously, all four are/were of Semitic origin. Helen was Arab, the rest are/were Jewish.
I am/was fortunate to have them all as friends. People who have led lives like that have forgotten more fascinating moments than I'll ever have in my lifetime. I have been fortunate to hear just a fraction of the stories they have had to tell.
Capt.Rocky300
(1,005 posts)and when I heard the news earlier today I immediately thought of you. It's always tough to lose someone you care about and it was clear to me that you were quite fond of Theo. He had a great run and left all of us a great body of work that will live on though it may be of little consolation to his friends and family at this time. I do feel like I got to know a little more about him thanks to our exchanges over the last couple days so thank for that.
By coincidence I saw a rerun of "The Big Bang Theory" last night in which Stan Lee played himself. It was from a few years ago but he looked great. Hopefully he still does.
DFW
(55,977 posts)I don't get to California much, and he never comes to Düsseldorf. The last time we had munch together, we fixed July 31st as the date, and he emailed back "July 31, a day that will live in infamy!" He was almost 19 on Dec. 8, 1941 when FDR first made that speech, and might well have heard it. I never asked him.
blue neen
(12,395 posts)and for the loss to humankind.
Many sympathies.
DFW
(55,977 posts)CaliforniaPeggy
(151,410 posts)And what a man he was!
I hope your good memories of all the good times will sustain you as you pass through this time of grief...
progressoid
(50,442 posts)http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/entertainment/obit-theodore-bikel-thr-feat/index.html
and in 1961, he founded the Newport Folk Festival!
Amazing man!
DFW
(55,977 posts)He performed everywhere and knew everybody.
2naSalit
(90,991 posts)heard about it this morning.
DFW
(55,977 posts)The "natural causes" bit is misleading. He had been ill with cancer since last year, but never made any noise about it.
2naSalit
(90,991 posts)I was informed of my elder sister's passing yesterday... knew it was coming too but still hits home when it actually happens. Have to work today, the blessing there is that I'm so busy I can't think about anything but work while I'm there... but I look like hell and have to greet the vacationing public, hope I don't scare anyone. This whole season it seems that I go to work to escape my personal hellish life of late.
I try to ease the sadness by accepting that the suffering for them has ended, at the very least.
*sigh*
Xyzse
(8,217 posts)steve2470
(37,461 posts)mnhtnbb
(31,750 posts)He was, indeed, a giant in the world of theatre and film.
What a marvelous personal reminiscence of playing Russian songs together!
DFW
(55,977 posts)She just wrote me to say that she knew that the second we met, we would become friends for life due to our musical affinity. To say she knew I would have a great musical affinity with someone like Theo Bikel was a great leap for me, as well as a huge honor, but she was right.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)A very versatile actor with a long career and great talent. I watched him just the other day as a Nazi 2nd in command of a u-boat in the great 1957 WWII film The Enemy Below.(playing opposite Curt Jurgens and Robert Mitchum). I also just realized he was in the crazy cult film by Frank Zappa that I saw many years ago, 200 Motels. He starred in the Twilight Zone episode, Four O'Clock.
DFW
(55,977 posts)But for me, I loved him as the submarine captain in "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming!" He must have laughed his head off in the outtakes of that one.
panader0
(25,816 posts)I was well aware of his acting, stage and screen, but did not know of his musicianship.
But he had a long life, in interesting times.