Tutte Lemkow - Biography

Tutte Lemkow (28 August 1918 – 10 November 1991) was a Norwegian actor and dancer, who played mostly villainous roles in British television and films. His chief claims to mainstream familiarity were his roles as "the fiddler" in the film version of Fiddler on the Roof and the old man ("Imam") who translates for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He also appeared as a dancer in John Huston's 1952 film Moulin Rouge and Blake Edwards' A Shot in the Dark as the Cossack who drinks the poison intended for Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. Lemkow also appeared in the Sellers films The Wrong Arm of the Law, The Wrong Box and Ghost in the Noonday Sun as well as Woody Allen's Love and Death.

Lemkow was born in Oslo, Norway of Jewish heritage. He played three roles in Doctor Who with William Hartnell's Doctor: Kuiju in Marco Polo (1964), Ibrahim in The Crusade (1965) and Cyclops in The Myth Makers (1965), as well as providing choreography for The Celestial Toymaker (1966). He also appeared in the Morecambe and Wise comedy film The Intelligence Men (1965).

Personal life

He was married to Swedish actress Mai Zetterling from 1944 to 1953. Lemkow and Zetterling have a daughter, Etienne and a son, Louis, who is professor of environmental sociology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

He married dancer Sara Luzita in 1954 and they have two daughters, Rachel and Rebecca.

Tutte Lemkow died in London, aged 73. A biography called "Tutte Lemkow; På tå og hev" written by Margaret Ljunggren was published in Oslo in 1989. (Gyldendal Norsk Forlag A/S)

Filmography

• Moulin Rouge (1952)
• The Captain's Paradise (1953)
• I Am a Camera (1955)
• The Iron Petticoat (1956)
• Too Many Crooks (1959)
• The Stranglers of Bombay (1960)
• The Boy Who Stole a Million (1960)
• The Siege of Sidney Street (1960)
• The Hellfire Club (1961)
• A Weekend with Lulu (1961)
• The Green Helmet (1961)
• The Guns of Navarone (1961)
• The Treasure of Monte Cristo (1961)
• We Joined the Navy (1962)
• Guns of Darkness (1962)
• On the Beat (1962)
• The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963)
• The Cracksman (1963)
• The Victors (1963)

• Becket (1964)
• A Shot in the Dark (1964)
• The Moon-Spinners (1964)
• The Intelligence Men (1965)
• Masquerade (1965)
• The Wrong Box (1966)
• Fathom (1967)
• Inspector Clouseau (1968)
• Duffy (1968)
• Justine (1969)
• Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
• Raising the Roof (1972)
• Ghost in the Noonday Sun (1973)
• Theater of Blood (1973)
• Love and Death (1975)
• Sphinx (1981)
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
• Mata Hari (1985)
• Red Sonja (1985)

External links