Theo

About this book

Theodore Bikel is an actor: as Mitch opposite Vivien Leigh's Blanche DuBois in the original London production of A Streetcar Named Desire; opposite Bogie and Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen; as Baron Von Trapp opposite Mary Martin's Maria in the Broadway landmark The Sound of Music; and, of course, as Tevye, the sagacious milkman from the tales of Sholom Aleichem, immortalized in Fiddler on the Roof. Theodore Bikel is an activist: from his early involvement with the struggle for civil rights to his support and active campaigning for then-Senator John F. Kennedy, through his work for progressive causes the world over, from Tel Aviv to Tbilisi. And with that voice, the voice that has won him applause as a singer, and, as an actor, an Emmy, an Oscar nomination, and countless other citations for his talent and his commitment. Now, Theodore Bikel, Theo, as he calls himself, turns his voice to the telling of a truly compelling story: his own. Born in Austria, raised in Palestine, educated in England, and with a stellar career in the United States and around the world, Theo's autobiography is the story not only of his own life, but of our collective history of the past six decades, from the Third Reich to the birth of the state of Israel, the McCarthyite fifties and the struggles of the tumultuous sixties in America. All rendered in his uniquely eloquent, fiercely committed voice. It will surprise, delight, and shock you. A tale from a man you thought you knew: actor, activist, singer, writer. Theo is all of these, and so much more.