Tutte Lemkow

Tutte Lemkow
Tutte Lemkow
	Lemkow in The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Born	Isak Samuel Lemkow; 28 August 1918; Oslo, Norway
Died	10 November 1991 (aged 73); London, England
Occupation(s)	Actor, dancer
Years active	1945–1985
Spouse(s)	Mai Zetterling (m. 1944; div. 1953); Sara Luzita ; (m. 1954; div.)
Children	4

Tutte Lemkow (born Isak Samuel Lemkow; 28 August 1918 – 10 November 1991) was a Norwegian actor and dancer, who played mostly villainous roles in British television and films. His chief claims to mainstream familiarity were his roles as the fiddler in the film version of Fiddler on the Roof and the old man ("Imam") who translates the inscription on the headpiece of the Staff of Ra for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Career

Lemkow appeared as a dancer, together with Sara Luzita, in John Huston's 1952 film Moulin Rouge. Other films include Blake Edwards' A Shot in the Dark as the Cossack who drinks the poison intended for Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau, Sellers's films The Wrong Arm of the Law, The Wrong Box and Ghost in the Noonday Sun, Woody Allen's Love and Death and the Morecambe and Wise comedy film The Intelligence Men (1965).

He played three roles in Doctor Who with William Hartnell's Doctor: Kuiju in Marco Polo (1964), Ibrahim in The Crusade (1965) and Cyclops in The Myth Makers (1965). He provides choreography for The Celestial Toymaker (1966) in Doctor Who and the spoof Bond film Casino Royale (1967).

In 1968 he played the role of 'Old Gorgy' in the episode "Legacy of Death" of The Avengers.

He adapted Ibsen's play for the 1983 film The Wild Duck.^[1]

Personal life and death

Lemkow was born in Oslo, Norway, of Jewish heritage.^[2] He was married to Swedish actress Mai Zetterling from 1944 to 1953. In 1954, he married dancer Sara Luzita.

Lemkow died in London in 1991 of acute myeloid leukaemia at the age of 73. A biography called Tutte Lemkow; På tå hev written by Margaret Ljunggren was published in Oslo in 1989. (Gyldendal Norsk Forlag A/S)

Filmography

1945 Galgmannen as Russian Dancer (uncredited)
1949 The Lost People as Jaroslav
1952 Moulin Rouge as Aicha's Partner
1953 The Captain's Paradise as Principal Dancer
1955 I Am a Camera as Electro-Therapist
1956 The Iron Petticoat as Sutisiyawa
1956 Zarak as Sword Dancer (uncredited)
1956 Anastasia as Kasbek Dancer (uncredited)
1958 Bonjour Tristesse as Pierre Schube (uncredited)
1958 Sea Fury as Dancer (uncredited)
1959 Too Many Crooks as Swarth Man
1959 Ben-Hur as Leper (uncredited)
1959 The Stranglers of Bombay as Ram Das
1959 Tommy the Toreador as Bootblack
1960 The Boy Who Stole a Million as Mateo
1960 Sands of the Desert as Bus Driver
1960 The Siege of Sidney Street as Dmitrieff
1961 The Hellfire Club as Higgins
1961 A Weekend with Lulu as Léon, The Postman
1961 The Green Helmet as Carlo Zaraga
1961 The Guns of Navarone as Nicolai
1961 The Treasure of Monte Cristo as Gino
1961 Ramona
1962 Guns of Darkness as Gino
1962 We Joined the Navy as Corporal
1962 On the Beat as Billposter In Underground (uncredited)
1962 The Road to Hong Kong as Hotel Servant (uncredited)
1963 The Wrong Arm of the Law as "Siggy" Schmoltz
1963 The Cracksman as The Choreographer
1963 The Victors as Sikh Soldier
1964 Becket as French Courtier (uncredited)
1964 Carry On Spying as Man In Marketplace (uncredited)
1964 A Shot in the Dark as Kazak Dancer
1964 The Moon-Spinners as Orestes
1965 The Intelligence Men as Seedy SCHLECHT Agent
1965 Masquerade as Paviot
1966 The Wrong Box as The Strangler
1967 Fathom as Mehmed
1968 Inspector Clouseau as "Frenchie" LeBec
1968 Duffy as Spaniard
1969 The Picasso Summer as Drunk
1969 Justine as Jens
1970 Revolution My A
1971 Fiddler on the Roof as Fiddler
1972 Raising the Roof as Alf
1973 Super Bitch
1973 Theatre of Blood as Meths Drinker
1973 Ghost in the Noonday Sun as Pontius Kak
1975 Love and Death as Pierre
1981 Sphinx as Tewfik
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark as The Imam
1985 Mata Hari as Ybarra
1985 Red Sonja as The Wizard (final film role)

References

^ Törnqvist, Egil (1999). Ibsen, Strindberg and the Intimate Theatre: Studies in TV Presentation. Amsterdam University Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-90-5356-371-7.
^ Barnes, Clive (7 June 1975). "Stage: Kafka Double Bill; Tutte Lemkow Provides Eerie Mixture of Theater, Film and Lecture". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 December 2008.

External links

Tutte Lemkow at IMDb
Portraits of Tutte Lemkow at the National Portrait Gallery, London

[Törnqvist1999-1] Törnqvist, Egil (1999). Ibsen, Strindberg and the Intimate Theatre: Studies in TV Presentation. Amsterdam University Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-90-5356-371-7.

[NYTS-2] Barnes, Clive (7 June 1975). "Stage: Kafka Double Bill; Tutte Lemkow Provides Eerie Mixture of Theater, Film and Lecture". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 December 2008.

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