Topol, Fiddler on the Roof and Bond star, dies

Chaim Topol, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance as Tevye in acclaimed musical Fiddler on the Roof, has died. He was 87.

Although born in Israel, Chaim Topol gained his greatest prominence in American and British movies. Following Fiddler on the Roof (for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy), he played astronomer Galileo Galilei. But it was his appearances in 1980’s Flash Gordon and the 1981 Bond movie For Your Eyes Only that gained him a new fanbase.

In Flash Gordon, Topol played disgraced scientist Hans Zarkov, a useful ally to the titular hero. The following year, at the insistence of producer Alfred R. Broccoli’s wife, he landed the role of Milos Columbo. The smuggler Columbo, like Zarkov, proved a necessary aid to the protagonist, saving James Bond’s (Roger Moore) life in the last act. Always a rich man of character, Topol heightened the likability of both the character and the movies themselves.

Despite a newfound fanbase, he would always be known for playing Tevye, a Jewish  milkman tasked with marrying off his daughters. Topol first played Tevye the Dairyman on stage in 1966, landing the role for Norman Jewison after the director flew to London to see him in the musical, proving that Topol was indeed the perfect match. His final go as the character came in 2019, marking more than 40 years of devotion to the role, playing it from the sunrise to the sunset of his career. It is estimated that the actor took the stage as Tevye around 3,500 times in total. The actor once said of fame from the character, “Sometimes I am surprised when I come to China or when I come to Tokyo or when I come to France or when I come wherever and the clerk at the immigration says, ‘Topol, Topol, are you Topol?’”

Following his aforementioned run in the early 1980s, Topol only appeared in a handful of movies and TV shows, including a one-off on seaQuest DSV. But his early and most famous works can’t be overshadowed, nor can his cultural importance, as Topol is considered Israel’s first international star.

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