Lou Jacobi

Lou Jacobi
Jacobi in Ivan the Terrible (1976)
Born	Louis Harold Jacobovitch (1913-12-28)December 28, 1913 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	October 23, 2009(2009-10-23) (aged 95) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1924-1994
Spouse	Ruth Ludwin ​ ​ (m. 1957; died 2004)​

Lou Jacobi (born Louis Harold Jacobovitch; December 28, 1913 – October 23, 2009) was a Canadian character actor. Jacobi came to prominence for his role as Mr. Van Daan in the 1955 Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank which he reprised in the 1959 film version. He also acted in the films Irma la Douce (1963), Little Murders (1971), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972), Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), The Lucky Star (1980), Arthur (1981), My Favorite Year (1982), and Avalon (1990).

Early life

Jacobi was born Louis Harold Jacobovitch in Toronto, Canada, to Joseph and Fay Jacobovitch.

Jacobi began acting as a boy, making his stage debut in 1924 at a Toronto theater, playing a violin prodigy in The Rabbi and the Priest. After working as the drama director of the Toronto Y.M.H.A., the social director at a summer resort, a stand-up comic in Canada's equivalent of the Borscht Belt, and the entertainment at various weddings and bachelor parties, Jacobi moved to London to work on the stage, appearing in Guys and Dolls and Pal Joey.

Career

Early and mainstream roles

Jacobi's film debut was in the 1953 British comedy, Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? with the country's blond sex symbol of the day, Diana Dors. Jacobi made his Broadway debut in 1955 in The Diary of Anne Frank playing Hans van Daan, the less-than-noble occupant of the Amsterdam attic where the Franks were hiding, and reprised the role in the 1959 film version. Other Broadway performances included Paddy Chayefsky’s The Tenth Man (1959), Woody Allen’s Don’t Drink the Water (1966), and Neil Simon’s debut play Come Blow Your Horn (1961), in which he portrayed the playboy protagonist’s disappointed father. His reading of the film line "Aha!" stuck with the Times columnist William Safire so vividly that he cited it when writing about the meaning of the word 40 years later.

Jacobi's star on Canada's Walk of Fame

Other notable films in which he appeared include Irma la Douce (1963), Penelope (1966), Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) as Sam Musgrave, a middle-aged married man experimenting with women's clothes, Arthur (1981) as the lucky florist, My Favorite Year (1982) as Benjy's unsophisticated Uncle Morty, and in Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), as a man named Murray who got zapped into the television and is wandering throughout sketches looking for his wife. In Barry Levinson's Avalon (1990), in a semi-dramatic role, as one of four Russian brothers (elders) trying to build a future in Baltimore in the early 20th century, with the memorable comic relief catchphrase, "You cut the turkey!?" after he would notoriously arrive late to family Thanksgiving dinner, every year. His final film role was I.Q. (1994), playing philosopher/mathematician Kurt Gödel.

Later roles

He guest-starred on such television shows as Playhouse 90, Too Close for Comfort, Tales from the Darkside, Love, American Style, That Girl, Sanford and Son, Barney Miller and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and was a regular on The Dean Martin Show. In the summer of 1976, Jacobi was the star of a CBS comedy series Ivan the Terrible, in which he played a Russian headwaiter living with nine other people in a small Moscow apartment. Comics Christopher Hewett, Phil Leeds, Alan Cauldwell and, in her TV series debut, Nana Visitor (here billed under her birth name, Nana Tucker). Harvey Korman appeared as a Soviet bureaucrat in an uncredited cameo at the close of each episode. The executive producer of the short-lived series was noted comic Alan King. The comedy series only lasted 5 episodes.

Recognition

In 1999, Jacobi, who was 85 at the time, was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. On the occasion of the dedication, film critic Roger Ebert interviewed Jacobi, later writing, "I look at Lou, and I’m not afraid to be 85, if I can get there in Lou's style."

Personal life

Jacobi was married to Ruth Ludwin from 1957 until her death in 2004. Jacobi died on October 23, 2009, of natural causes, at his home in Manhattan. He was 95. He was survived by his brother, Avrom Jacobovitch, and sister, Rae Jacobovitch, both of Toronto.

Jacobi was one of the voice inspirations for the Futurama character Dr. Zoidberg.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1953	Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?	Captain Noakes
1953	The Good Beginning	Bookmaker	Uncredited
1955	A Kid for Two Farthings	Blackie Isaacs
1956	Charley Moon	Theatre Manager
1959	The Diary of Anne Frank	Mr. Hans Van Daan
1960	Song Without End	Potin
1963	Irma la Douce	Moustache
1966	The Last of the Secret Agents?	Papa Leo
1966	Penelope	Ducky
1970	Cotton Comes to Harlem	Goodman
1971	Little Murders	Judge Stern
1971	The Battle of Love's Return	Talking Head	Uncredited
1972	Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)	Sam
1976	Next Stop, Greenwich Village	Herb
1976	Everybody Rides the Carousel	Stage 1	Voice
1977	Roseland	Stan	(The Waltz)
1979	The Magician of Lublin	Wolsky
1980	The Lucky Star	Elia Goldberg
1981	Arthur	Plant Store Owner
1981	Chu Chu and the Philly Flash	Landlord
1982	My Favorite Year	Uncle Morty
1984	Isaac Littlefeathers	Abe
1986	The Boss' Wife	Harry Taphorn
1987	Amazon Women on the Moon	Murray	(segment "Murray in Videoland")
1990	Avalon	Gabriel Krichinsky
1992	I Don't Buy Kisses Anymore	Irving Fein
1994	I.Q.	Kurt Gödel	(final film role)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1953-1954	Rheingold Theatre	Milton Cassal / Ben	2 episodes
1959	The Texan	Joseph Varga	Episode: The Peddler
1959	Playhouse 90	Puigdellevol	Episode: Child of Our Time
1960	The Play of the Week	Corvino	Episode: Volpone
1962	The Defenders	Mr. Schwartz	Episode: Grandma TNT
1963	Sam Benedict	August Brauer	Episode: Season for Vengeance
1963-1964	The Alfred Hitchcock Hour	Dr. Glover / Lt. Wolfson	2 episodes
1965	The Dick Van Dyke Show	Lou Sorrell	Episode: Young Man with a Shoehorn
1965	The Trials of O'Brien	Archie	Episode: The Trouble with Archie
1966	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Arum Tertunian	Episode: The Nowhere Affair
1969	That Girl	Leo Schneider	2 episodes
1969-1973	Love, American Style	Performer	5 episodes
1971	Make Room for Granddaddy	Mephisto	Episode: Of Mice and Mini
1971	The Courtship of Eddie's Father	Frank	Episode: Tell It Like I'm Telling You
1971-1973	The Dean Martin Show	Sketch performer	52 episodes
1975	Barney Miller	Harry Tannenbaum	Episode: Stakeout
1975	Sanford and Son	Max / Bert	Episode: Steinberg and Son
1976	Ivan the Terrible	Ivan Petrovsky	5 episodes
1977	Captain Kangaroo	Dandy	Episode: Dandy
1979	King of Kensington	Spivakofski	Episode: Pawn to King Four
1982	Tales of the Unexpected	Waiter	Episode: In the Bag
1983-1985	Too Close to Comfort	Paul	3 episodes
1984	Tales from the Darkside	Harvey Turman	Episode: Pain Killer
1985	Cagney & Lacey	Aaron Seymour	Episode: American Dream
1985	St. Elsewhere	Rabbi Singer	Episode: Cheers
1986	Melba	Jack	6 episodes
1988	L.A. Law	Sam Harber	Episode: Leave it to Geezer
1988	Great Performances	Jacob Glutz	Episode: The Old Reliable

Further reading

• Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009; ISBN 1-59393-320-7.

External links

• Lou Jacobi at IMDb
• Lou Jacobi at the Internet Broadway Database