Meier Tzelniker
Meier Tzelniker | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 January 1894 |
| Died | 8 October 1980 (aged 86) London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
Meier Tzelniker (1 January 1894 – 8 October 1980)[1] was a Romanian-British actor.[2] He appeared mainly in Yiddish theatre,[3] but was sometimes a character actor in English-language plays and films.[4][5]
Biography
[edit]Tzelniker was born and raised in the city of Hotin, located in the Bessarabia Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine), the son of a Romanian Jewish yeast manufacturer. He was a boy chorister in a synagogue when he got his first stage role in Yiddish theatre, and toured eastern Europe with a Yiddish theatre company. He studied at the Odesa Oblast Academic Drama Theater, and spent three years acting in Russia.[6] He emigrated to London in 1927, co-founding the Yiddish National Theater Company.[6]
Tzelniker was a leading figure in London's Yiddish theatre scene, and also appeared as a character actor in English-language productions. He had notable film roles in It Always Rains On Sunday (1947), A Night to Remember (1958), Expresso Bongo (1959), and The Killing of Sister George (1968). His West End credits included Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing! and The Big Knife.[7]
Personal life
[edit]Tzelniker was married to actress Brana Freit, they had two children including Anna Tzelniker, also an actress.
Death
[edit]A long-time resident of Stepney in the East End of London, Tzelniker died there on 8 October 1980, aged 86.[1]
Partial filmography
[edit]- Mr. Emmanuel (1944) - Mr. Silver
- It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) - Solly, his father
- Last Holiday (1950) - Baltin
- Venetian Bird (1952) - Mayor of Mirave
- The Teckman Mystery (1954) - John Rice
- Make Me an Offer (1954) - Wendl
- The Woman for Joe (1955) - Sol Goldstein
- The Extra Day (1956) - Lou Skeat
- Stars in Your Eyes (1956) - Maxie Jago
- The Long Haul (1957) - Nat Fine
- A Night to Remember (1958) - Mr. Isador Straus
- Expresso Bongo (1959) - Mayer
- Jungle Street (1960) - Mr. Rose
- Let's Get Married (1960) - Schutzberger
- A Circle of Deception (1960) - Barman
- His and Hers (1961) - Felix McGregor
- The 25th Hour (1967) - Abramovici
- The Sorcerers (1967) - Jewish Baker
- The Killing of Sister George (1968) - Mr. Katz
References
[edit]- 1 2 Grave listing at jewishgen.org
- ↑ "Meier Tzelniker". Jewish Lives Project. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
- ↑ "Meier Tzelniker". Archived from the original on 3 February 2017.
- ↑ "Photographs of Yiddish production of The Merchant of Venice in 1946".
- ↑ "Meier Tzelniker - Movies and Filmography - AllMovie".
- 1 2 "Meir Tzelniker". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 12 June 2026.
- ↑ "Meier Tzelniker". Theatricalia.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
 | This article about a British stage actor is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |
- 1894 births
- 1980 deaths
- 20th-century Romanian Jews
- 20th-century British Jews
- 20th-century British male actors
- British male film actors
- British male stage actors
- British people of Romanian-Jewish descent
- Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom
- Jewish British male actors
- People from Khotyn
- Romanian male film actors
- Romanian male stage actors
- Yiddish theatre performers
- British stage actor stubs