Born in Vienna, Austria, Theodore Bikel fled with his family to Austria in 1938. In 1946 he went to London to study at RADA and getting roles on the West End stage. His first film role was as a German sailor in the 1951 film The African Queen. He moved to the United States in 1954 where he appeared in several Broadway plays, becoming identified for roles in Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music. He was fluent in nine languages, sang folk songs in nearly twenty one, and in 1959 helped found the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.
Theodore Bikel died of natural causes at the age of 91.
