Topol, icon of Fiddler on the Roof, dead at 87

Chaim Topol, a leading Israeli actor who captivated theater and film audiences with his portrayal of Tevye, the patient and charismatic milkman. Fiddler on the Roof, has died in Tel Aviv, the Israeli leader said on Friday. He is 87 years old.

The cause was not immediately released.

Israeli leaders on Thursday tweeted their memories and condolences to Topol’s family.

Israel’s president of the ceremony, Isaac Herzog praised Topol as “one of the most outstanding Israeli actors,” who “fills the movie screen with his presence and above all enters our hearts.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “Topol’s contribution to Israeli culture will continue for generations.”

Yair Lapid, head of the Israeli opposition, said Topol taught Israelis to “love culture and love the land.”

Topol’s charity, Jordan River Village, also announced his death, paying tribute to him as an “inspiration” whose “legacy will continue for generations to come.”

About 3,500 performances as Tevye

Recipient of two Golden Globe awards and nominated for an Academy Award and a Tony Award, Topol has long been Israel’s best actor. Most recently in 2015, he was celebrated for his contribution to film and culture with the Israel Award for lifetime achievement, his country’s most prestigious award. Until a few years ago, he remained involved in theater and said he still gets requests to play Tevye.

Topol began acting in a theater troupe in the Israeli army in the 1950s, where he met his future wife Galia. His first major breakthrough was a leading role in an Israeli film in 1964 God bless you, about the plight of Middle Eastern immigrants to Israel. The film made history as the first Israeli film to receive an Academy Award nomination and also gave Topol his first Golden Globe Award.

Two years later, he made his debut in an English language film alongside Kirk Douglas in Cast a blind Shadow. But the role of his life came in a long musical Fiddler on the Roofwho plays the protagonist dairyman, Tevye, a Jewish father trying to maintain his family’s cultural traditions despite the turmoil gripping the Russian shtetl.

With his rich voice, folkish witticisms and command of the stage, Topol’s Tevye, driving a horse-drawn carriage and delivering milk, butter and eggs to the rich, became a popular hero in Israel and around the world.

While stage actor Zero Mostel played Teyve in the 1964 Broadway run, Topol took the role in London’s West End and in a Broadway revival later in the decade.

He scored the lead role in the 1971 film version directed by Canadian Norman Jewison, winning the Golden Globe award for leading actor and being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He lost to Gene Hackman in the The French connection.

Topol played the role more than 3,500 times on stage, most recently in 2009. With the help of heavy makeup and costume work, he first portrayed an older, burlier dairyman in his 30s and quite literally aged in the role.

Topol said that his personal experience of being of Russian Jewish descent helped him relate to Tevye and improve his performance.

Bond, the role of Flash Gordon

In an interview with The Associated Press from his Tel Aviv home in 2015, while receiving Israel’s prize for lifetime achievement, Topol traced his meteoric rise from humble beginnings to worldwide fame.

“I wasn’t raised in Hollywood. I was raised in a kibbutz,” he said. “Sometimes I’m surprised when I come to China or when I come to Tokyo or when I come to France or when I come anywhere and the immigration officer says ‘Topol, Topol, are you Topol?’

Topol also starred in more than 30 other films, including as the main character GalileoDr. Hans Zarkov Flash Gordon and James Bond’s foil-turned-ally Milos Columbo For Your Eyes Only along with Roger Moore in the role of Bond.

But he became synonymous with only one role – Tevye. Listening to his heart about the impoverished Jewish community over the years, Topol has made audiences laugh and cry from Broadway and West End stages.

“How many people are known in one section? How many people in my profession are known in the whole world?” told The Associated Press. “I’m not complaining.”

But Topol said he had to look outside his actions to find meaning in his life. He devoted many of his later years to charity as chairman of the board at Jordan River Village, a camp serving Middle Eastern children with life-threatening illnesses.

“I am interested in charity and find it more satisfying than running from one [acting] another part,” He said. “When you are successful in the film and the money flows, yes, obviously, it is very good. But to tell you the most important thing, I’m not sure.”

Topol left his wife and three children.