Chaim Topol

Chaim Topol was born in 1935 in Tel Aviv

Topol was born in Tel Aviv in 1935. His parents had been members of the Betar youth movement in Warsaw. His father worked as a plasterer and served in the Haganah, and his mother was a seamstress. He grew up in the Florentin neighborhood, where the writer Yemima Avidar-Tchernovitz encouraged him to act.

At 14 he began working at the printing press of the Davar newspaper while studying at night. After finishing school he moved to Kibbutz Geva and then enlisted in the army, joining the Nahal entertainment troupe. There he met his future wife Galia.

After the army he lived on Kibbutz Mishmar David and led a touring kibbutz theatre group. In 1960 he co-founded the Haifa Municipal Theatre. His lead role in the 1964 film Sallah Shabati by Ephraim Kishon won him a Golden Globe.

In 1967 he began playing Tevye in London, and he played the role again in the 1971 film, which brought him a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination. He appeared in films such as Galileo, Flash Gordon and a James Bond film. He also dubbed animated films into Hebrew, illustrated books and painted.

Topol helped found Variety Israel and Jordan River Village, a camp for Arab and Jewish children with serious illnesses. He received the Israel Prize in 2015. He had Alzheimer's disease in his last years and died in 2023.