Fyvush Finkel
Philip "Fyvush" Finkel (born October 9, 1922) is an American actor best known as a star of Yiddish theater and for his role as lawyer Douglas Wambaugh on the television series Picket Fences, for which he earned an Emmy Award in 1994. He is also known for his portrayal of Harvey Lipschultz, a crotchety U.S. history teacher, on the TV series Boston Public.
Early life
Finkel was born at home in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, the third of four sons of Jewish immigrant tailor Harry Finkel (from Warsaw) and housewife Mary (from Minsk). He adopted the stage name "Fyvush", a common Yiddish given name.
Career
Finkel first appeared on the stage at age 9, and acted for almost 35 years in the thriving Yiddish theaters of the Yiddish Theater District of Manhattan's Lower East Side, as well as performing as a standup comic in the Catskill's Borscht Belt. In 2008 he recalled:
He worked regularly until the ethnic venues began dying out in the early 1960s, then made his Broadway theatre debut in the original 1964 production of the musical Fiddler on the Roof, joining the cast as Mordcha, the innkeeper, in 1965. The production ran through July 2, 1972. Finkel then played Lazar Wolf, the butcher, in the limited run 1981 Broadway revival, and eventually played the lead role of Tevye the milkman for years in the national touring company.