ACTOR
Topol
42 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (42)
- #001
Topol was the first Israeli actor to be nominated for an Oscar.
- #002
Before the 1971 film version, Topol had played Tevye in more than 400 performances in London. Since the film's release, he has portrayed the milkman more than 2,000 times in many places, from the United States and Canada to Europe, Japan and Australia.
- #003
By his own estimate, he toured as Tevye in every US state and every Canadian province at least twice over the past forty years, always before grateful audiences.
- #004
At the age of 74, he is currently on tour in a repeat of the role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.
- #005
The success of his award-winning film Sallah Shabati (1964) partly led to his playing Tevye in the hit 1967 London stage production of Fiddler on the Roof. This resulted in his being named 'Man of the Year', Best Foreign Actor, by the International Variety Poll London Critics in London. He also topped the singles charts with his single 'If I Were a Rich Man' from the show.
- #006
His first name is Hebrew for "life", and his surname is Russian for "poplar".
- #007
He is the father of Omer and of the actors Ady Topol and Anat Topol.
- #008
Although he is known only by the surname Topol, his given name is Chaim, pronounced Hyam, meaning life, while Topol means tree, so his name literally means 'tree of life'.
- #009
He came from a family of five; his father was a plasterer and his mother a sewing machine operator. The family shared a two-room apartment with a family of four.
- #010
Topol recently completed a two-month season once again playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, Australia.
- #011
His theatre performances outside Fiddler include leading roles in 'Romanoff and Juliet' and 'Othello'.
- #012
He voiced Bagheera in the Hebrew dub of Disney's 'The Jungle Book'.
- #013
Topol illustrated about 25 books in both Hebrew and English.
- #014
His autobiography Topol by Topol was published in London by Weidenfeld and Nicholson (1981). He is also the author of To Life! (1994) and Topol's Treasury of Jewish Humor, Wit and Wisdom (1995).
- #015
One of his closest friends, Rehavam ("Ghandi") Ze'evi, a minister in the Israeli government, was killed by a Palestinian terrorist in 2001.
- #016
In 2015 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement and special contribution to society and the state.
- #017
He is performing as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof in Wellington, New Zealand.
- #018
Among his acting roles, Topol served as Resident Director at the Israeli Popular Theatre.
- #019
He was also nominated for the 1971 Academy Award for Best Actor, losing to Gene Hackman for The French Connection.
- #020
His films include 'Horoz' (The Rooster), which was shot in Israel by his own production company.
- #021
In 1963 he made the film 'Sallah', playing an old man (Sallah Shabati), which led to his being cast in 'Fiddler on the Roof'. For the role he won the Golden Globe Award as most promising new male actor.
- #022
In 1967, Topol founded Variety Israel, an organization serving children with special needs.
- #023
He shares his name (Topol) with a whitening, anti-cavity toothpaste that has been on the market for several years and is still sold today.
- #024
In 2014, the University of Haifa awarded Topol an honorary degree in recognition of 50 years of activity in Israel's cultural and public life.
- #025
For his performance in the film Fiddler on the Roof, Topol won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, the Sant Jordi Award for Best Performance in a Foreign Film, and the 1972 David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actor, sharing the latter with Elizabeth Taylor.
- #026
Topol appeared in two BBC One programmes: the six-part Topol's Israel (1985) and the earlier It's Topol (1968).
- #027
In 2009, Topol began a farewell tour of Fiddler on the Roof as Tevye, opening in Wilmington, Delaware. A shoulder injury forced him to withdraw from the Boston leg of the tour, and he was replaced by Theodore Bikel and Harvey Fierstein, both of whom had played Tevye on Broadway.
- #028
In 2015 he received the Israel Lifetime Achievement Award.
- #029
He was also a co-founder and board chairman of Jordan River Village, a camp that opened in 2012 and is open year-round for Arab and Jewish children with life-threatening illnesses. It was inspired by Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp.
- #030
In 1960, Topol founded the Haifa Municipal Theatre together with Yosef Milo; he served as assistant director and appeared in plays by Shakespeare, Ionesco and Brecht.
- #031
Topol's first film appearance was in the 1961 film I Like Mike, followed by the 1963 Israeli film El Dorado.
- #032
In 2014 he took part in Raising the Roof, produced by the National Yiddish Theatre at New York City Hall to mark the 50th anniversary of Fiddler. The evening, which featured Chita Rivera, Joshua Bell, Sheldon Harnick, Andrea Martin, Jerry Zaks and more, was directed by Gary John La Rosa and Erik Liberman.
- #033
Before the project collapsed, he was to appear in Michael Powell's 'The Tempest', which was to begin shooting in Greece in 1975.
- #034
In 1964, Topol received Israel's Kinor David award in the field of arts and entertainment.
- #035
In 2008 he was named a Distinguished Member of the Israel Festival for his contributions to Israeli culture.
- #036
For his performance in the 1972 film Follow Me, he received the Best Actor award from the San Sebastián International Film Festival.
- #037
Topol reprised the role of Tevye in a touring production staged in Israel between 1997 and 1998, and in a 1998 performance at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne. In September 2005 he returned to Australia for a revival of Fiddler on the Roof at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, followed by a production at the Lyric Theatre in Brisbane in April 2006 and a production at Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne in June 2006. In May 2007 he appeared in a production at the Auckland Civic Theatre.
- #038
Topol is not related to the American actor Richard Topol, who was born in New York City, New York, USA, and who is also Jewish.
- #039
In 1965 Topol appeared on stage at the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv.
- #040
Between 1960 and 1964 Topol performed with the Batzal Yarok ("Green Onion") satirical theatre company, which also toured Israel. Other members of the group included Uri Zohar, Nechama Hendel, Zaharira Harifai, Arik Einstein and Oded Kotler.
- #041
In 1976 Topol played the lead role of the baker Amiable in the new musical The Baker's Wife, but was fired eight months later by producer David Merrick. His co-star in the production, Patti LuPone, claimed in her autobiography that Topol did not behave professionally on stage and that their offstage relationship was tense. The musical's composer, Stephen Schwartz, claimed that Topol's behaviour greatly upset the cast and directors and caused the production to fail to reach Broadway as planned.
- #042
Topol first played Tevye in 1965 in the Hebrew-language Fiddler on the Roof in Tel Aviv. When he came to London to play the role, he lost the first mark of the name Chaim because the producers could not pronounce it, and with his permission it was removed from all advertising.
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