Who Am I? October 2024
I was born in Malden, MA, the youngest of 9 children, during The Roaring 20s to Ukrainian-Jewish parents. Dad worked in advertising and as a printer. We were dirt poor growing up and us kids were often hospitalized for malnutrition. Dinner at home was usually black Russian bread rubbed in garlic. Our parents, though poor, were amateur musicians who played stringed instruments and they taught us a love of music and literature. Most of the boys were baritones and we later formed a vocal group. 3 of my siblings worked in a rubber shoe company.
I attended Boston Latin School where I became a scholar and athlete. I stood over 6’3” and played football, the center on the basketball team and baseball. I even did a little welterweight boxing.
As previously mentioned my brothers and formed a vocal group from the late 1940’s until the early 1960’s. We were good enough to get gigs at the ‘Latin Quarter,’ Boston’s ‘Fox and Hounds,’ ’Ciro’s in Hollywood’ as well as appearances on variety shows on radio and TV. We added some African-American spirituals to our repertoire after being booked at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre. All in all we had 8 gold records and 40 albums. Our idols were the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers. After I left our vocal group I was to have 20 solo albums.
In the early 1960’s I studied acting under the direction of Austrian-American actor and director Herbert Berghof who established an eponymous school for actors. I also took private lessons from him. As an actor I started by doing commercials and voice-overs. Most of you probably know me because I appeared on NBC in a TV series in the mid-1960’s. The show was an action/adventure series and my character was a friend to a fictionalized version of a real life folk hero, an American pioneer, and frontiersman known for his exploration and settlement in what would one day become a state whose long-time senator is Mitch McConnell. My dark complexion and rough-looking features enabled me to pass as a half-Cherokee in the show. I tried to play that character without caricature or exaggeration and, as a result, I received a complimentary letter from the Arizona Indian Association praising my performance. I also appeared on Broadway as a native-American opposite Kirk Douglas. I also had off-Broadway roles in “The Crucible” and “The Fantasticks.”
I appeared as a regular in summer stock appearances with the John Kenley Players Circuit. 3 times I appeared on that circuit in “Shenandoah.”
I am largely self-educated but I wanted an actual degree so I attended UCLA in the 1970’s and earned a degree in Theater and Cinema Arts. I maintained a home in Teaneck, N.J. for my theater work and another home in the San Fernando Valley in California for my roles in Hollywood.
I’m quote as saying, “I used to be way, way, left, but now I am a true centrist. I am not very involved in domestic issues, but I feel they are coming to get us again and that the situation for Israel and European Jewry in precarious.” Consequently, I agreed to become president of the Los Angeles chapter of Z.O.A.
I am also an ecologist and have performed at annual charity benefits for the homeless. I think you should know me by now. That’s me in the photo below.
(1a)Who Am I? (1b)I was born at home in Malden, MA. What was our address at that time? (1c)Who was I named after? (2a) After a couple of previous iterations, what did we name our family vocal group? (2b) In 1961 our vocal group appeared together for the last time. Where was that? (3a)What NBC TV show, referenced above, did I appear in having mixed ancestry? What was my character’s name in that series? (3b)What Broadway play did I appear in opposite Kirk Douglas? Hint – It was later made into a 1975 movie. (3c)Beside “Shenandoah” name 2 other productions I appeared in summer stock with the Kenley Players Circuit. (4) As a solo artist I had 4 top-twenty hits on national charts. Name 2 of them. (5)I was a co-owner of a professional basketball team. Which one? Name 2 other celebrity owners of that same team.
