Fyvush Finkel
Birthday: Born in 1922-10-09 in Brooklyn, New York, USA
Deathday: 2016-08-14
Fyvush Finkel, born Philip Finkel, was an American actor from New York City, the son of Jewish immigrant parents from Eastern Europe. His career began in the Yiddish theatres of Manhattan where his talent for peppering his singing with comedic inflections gained him notoriety and consistent casting for over thirty years. He finally made his Broadway debut in 1964 as a member of the original production of Fiddler on the Roof, playing Mordcha the innkeeper. During the 1990s he began working in television and came to the attention of producer David E. Kelley, who cast him in two of his successful series: Picket Fences and Boston Public, the former earning him an Emmy (Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series) in 1994. After Boston Public was cancelled in 2004 he returned to the theatres of New York, eventually retiring after the conclusion of the production of New Jerusalem in 2007. He passed away at his home in New York at the age of 93 due to heart problems.
TV Credits
Boston Public
Character: Harvey Lipschultz
Principal Steven Harper runs Winslow High School as best as he can while dealing with the demands of the faculty, the students and their parents....
Fantasy Island
Character: Fisher
Mr. Roarke and his three assistants run a tropical paradise where guests come in to have their wildest dreams and fantasies come true....
The Simpsons
Character: Fyvush Finkel (voice)
Set in Springfield, the average American town, the show focuses on the antics and everyday adventures of the Simpson family; Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie, as well as a virtual cast of thousands. Since the beginning, the series has been a pop culture icon, attracting hundreds of celebrities to guest star. The show has also made name for itself in its fearless satirical take on politics, media and American life in general....
Chicago Hope
Character:
Chicago Hope is an American medical drama television series, created by David E. Kelley. It ran on CBS from September 18, 1994, to May 4, 2000. The series is set in a fictional private charity hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The show is set to return in the fall of 2013 on TVGN in reruns....
Blue Bloods
Character: Moishe
A drama about a multi-generational family of cops dedicated to New York City law enforcement. Frank Reagan is the New York Police Commissioner and heads both the police force and the Reagan brood. He runs his department as diplomatically as he runs his family, even when dealing with the politics that plagued his unapologetically bold father, Henry, during his stint as Chief....
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
Character: Jackie the Shtickman (voice)
Three young monsters — Ickis, Oblina and Krumm — attends an institute for monsters under a city dump and learn to frighten humans....
Picket Fences
Character: Douglas Wambaugh
An aging Sheriff tries to keep the peace in Rome, Wisconsin, a small town plagued by bizarre and violent crimes....
The Jewish Americans
Character: Self
Explores 350 years of Jewish American history, beginning with the first Jews who arrive in the 17th century, who epitomized the immigrant experience. Even as they faced rejection, Jews embraced American culture while keeping alive their own heritage. Focusing on the tension amid identity and assimilation, the series features Jewish Americans who have made major contributions to American life. (Yad Vashem)...
Movie Credits
Nixon
Character: Murray Chotiner
A look at President Richard M. Nixon—a man carrying the fate of the world on his shoulders while battling the self-destructive demands from within—spanning his troubled boyhood in California to the shocking Watergate scandal that would end his Presidency....
For Love or Money
Character: Milton Glickman
New York concierge Doug Ireland wants to go into business for himself and refurbish a hotel on Roosevelt Island, N.Y., but he needs an investor. With a few weeks left before his option on the site runs out, Doug agrees to help wealthy Christian Hanover conceal his affair with salesgirl Andy Hart from his wife. Despite his own attraction to Andy, Doug tries to stay focused on getting Christian to invest $3 million in his project....
The Pickle
Character: Mr. Shacknoff
Harry Stone always dreamed of making "The Great American Movie." Instead he made The Pickle - a teenage sci-fi flick about a flying cucumber. Harry just wanted to get out of debt; now everyone he's ever known, loved and neglected is standing in line for tickets....
Off Beat
Character: Vendor
Joe Gower's job is skating through library shelves, fetching books. A police officer/friend of his is chosen to participate in a charity dance performance. Gower agrees to take his place in the show by posing as a police officer. He falls for a female officer in the show and gets into various scrapes with fellow cops and also crooks. And he dances....
Seize the Day
Character: Shomier
Tommy Wilhelm (Robin Williams) is a salesman. An honest, hard-working guy who has lost his job, his girlfriend, and left part of his sanity behind as he heads to New York to pick up the pieces of his life. He's always been able to sell, but caught in a downward spiral, he must, in addition, face the father who never really understood him, while trying to balance his newly precarious existence....
Q & A
Character: Preston Pearlstein
A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him....
Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women
Character: Self
A documentary film about three generations of female Jewish comedians and the complexity and challenges of their relationship to comedy, Judaism, and gender. The film profiles Molly Picon, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, Joan Rivers, Gilda Radner, and Wendy Wasserstein, as well as contemporary comedians Judy Gold and Jackie Hoffman....
Picket Fences: Pilot
Character: Douglas Wambaugh
The feature-length pilot for the popular TV series. In the small town of Rome, Wisconsin, the daily life of the quiet townspeople is disrupted when the Tin Man drops dead during a local production the “The Wizard of Oz” due to nicotine poisoning....
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Character: Mr. Greenblatt
Eugene, a young teenage Jewish boy, recalls his memoirs of his time as an adolescent youth. He lives with his parents, his aunt, two cousins, and his brother, Stanley, whom he looks up to and admires. He goes through the hardships of puberty, sexual fantasy, and living the life of a poor boy in a crowded house....
A Serious Man
Character: Dybbuk?
It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances Sy Ableman....
If You're Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast
Character: Self
Irrepressible writer-comedian Carl Reiner, who shows no signs of slowing down at 94, tracks down celebrated nonagenarians, and a few others over 100, to show how the twilight years can truly be the happiest and most rewarding. Among those who share their insights into what it takes to be vital and productive in older age are Mel Brooks, Dick Van Dyke, Kirk Douglas, Norman Lear, Betty White and Tony Bennett....
The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars
Character: Hearing Aid (voice)
Based on the book by Thomas M. Disch and intended as the third film in the series, this sequel was finished and released prior to 'The Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue'. Whilst trying to protect their new "Little Master" the anthropomorphic appliances set off on an epic adventure and make many new friends along the way....
Aaron’s Magic Village
Character: Narrator (voice)
When God distributed wiseness and foolishness through a newly created world, one of the cherubs accidentally dropped all the foolishness on a tiny village called Chelm. So everyone in the village is very dumb. Recently orphaned boy Aaron and his friendly goat Zlateh live there with Aaron's uncle Shlemiel. When an evil sorcerer and his monster attack the village, Aaron and Zlateh have to defend it themselves....
Deli Man
Character: Himself
Every story needs a brave and trustworthy guide, and Deli Man’s is the effusive and charming Ziggy Gruber, a third-generation delicatessen man - his uncle and great-uncle owned Berger’s in the diamond district, and the Woodrow Deli on Long Island. His grandfather owned the famous Rialto Delicatessen on Broadway, and Ziggy was stuffing cabbages atop of a crate when he was eight. Now he is owner and maven (as well as a Yiddish-speaking French trained chef) of one of the country’s top delis, Kenny ...
A Rugrats Chanukah
Character: Shlomo (voice)
The story of the Jewish holiday Chanukah through the eyes of the Rugrats, who imagine themselves as the main characters. Meanwhile, Grandpa Boris and his long-time rival, Shlomo, feud over who will play the lead in the local synagogue's Chanukah play....