fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Search / Calendar

Molly Picon (Yiddish: מאָלי פּיקאָן; born Malka Opiekun; February 28, 1898[1] – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller.[2]

Molly Picon
Picon in Car 54, Where Are You? (1962)
Born
Małka Opiekun[citation needed]

(1898-02-28)February 28, 1898
New York City, US
DiedApril 5, 1992(1992-04-05) (aged 94)
Resting placeMount Hebron Cemetery, New York City
OccupationActress
Years active1904–1984
Spouse
Jacob Kalich
(m. 1919; died 1975)

She began her career in Yiddish theatre and film, rising to a star, before transitioning into character roles in English-language productions.


Early life


Picon was born Malka Opiekun (Anglicized first to Pyekoon, later Picon)[1] in New York City, to Polish-Jewish immigrants Clara (née Ostrow), a wardrobe mistress, and Louis Opiekun, a shirtmaker.[citation needed] Opiekun is a Polish language name meaning "guardian" or "caretaker".[citation needed] The family relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when she was three years old.[3]


Career


Picon began as a child actor in the Yiddish Theatre at age six. In 1912, she debuted at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia[citation needed] and became a star of the Yiddish Theatre District, performing in plays in the District for seven years.[4][5] Picon was so popular in the 1920s, many shows had her adopted name, Molly, in their title. In 1931, she opened the Molly Picon Theatre.

Jacob Kalich (second from left), Picon's husband, in the comedy play Mezrach und Maarev, 1921
Jacob Kalich (second from left), Picon's husband, in the comedy play Mezrach und Maarev, 1921

Picon appeared in many films, beginning with silent movies. Her early films were made in Europe; among the first, and earliest to survive, was the Yiddish language East and West, a film adaptation of the 1921 play Mezrach und Maarev produced in Vienna in 1923.[6][3] The film depicts a clash of New and Old World Jewish cultures. She plays a US-born daughter who travels with her father back to Galicia in East Central Europe.[6] Her husband Jacob Kalich played one of her close relatives. [citation needed]

Picon's most famous picture, Yidl Mitn Fidl (1936), was filmed on location in Poland and shows her wearing male clothing throughout most of the movie. The story concerns a girl and her father who are forced by poverty to set out on the road as traveling musicians. For her safety, she disguises herself as a boy, which becomes inconvenient when she falls in love with one of the other musicians in the troupe. Another of her films, Mamele, was also shot in Poland.[citation needed]

In 1934, Picon had a musical comedy radio show, The Molly Picon Program, broadcast on WMCA in New York City. In 1938, she starred another radio program on WMCA, I Give You My Life. That program "combined music and dramatic episodes that purported to be the story of her life." Two years later, she starred in Molly Picon's Parade, a variety show on WMCA.[7]

Picon made her English language debut on stage in 1940. On Broadway, she starred in the Jerry Herman musical Milk and Honey in 1961. In 1966, she dropped out of the disastrous Chu Chem during previews in Philadelphia; the show closed before it reached Broadway.

Picon and Jim Nabors in Gomer Pyle USMC (1968)
Picon and Jim Nabors in Gomer Pyle USMC (1968)

Picon had a bit part in the 1948 film The Naked City as the woman running a news-stand and soda fountain towards the climax of the film. Her first major Anglophonic role in the movies was in the film version of Come Blow Your Horn (1963), with Frank Sinatra. One of her best-known film roles was as Yente the Matchmaker in the 1971 film adaptation of the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof.

Picon appeared as Molly Gordon in an episode of CBS's Gomer Pyle, USMC and had a recurring role as Mrs. Bronson in the NBC police comedy Car 54, Where Are You?. In the comedy For Pete's Sake (1974), she appeared as an elderly madam ("Mrs. Cherry") who arranges a disastrous stint for Barbra Streisand on a job as a call girl.[citation needed] She later had television roles on the soap opera Somerset and appeared in a few episodes of The Facts of Life as Natalie's grandmother. Picon's final role was as Roger Moore's mother in the comedies Cannonball Run and its sequel Cannonball Run II in 1981 and 1984, respectively.


Books


Picon wrote So Laugh a Little (1962), a biography about her family. In 1980, she published her autobiography, Molly!.[8]


Personal life


Picon was married to actor and playwright Yankel (Jacob) Kalich from 1919[3] until his death from cancer in 1975. They had no children.

Picon died on April 5, 1992, aged 94, from Alzheimer's disease in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She and her husband are interred in the Yiddish Theater section of the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York City.[citation needed]


Legacy



Filmography


Year Title Role Notes
1922Look After Your Daughters
1923East and WestMollie[13]
1936Yiddle with His FiddleItke aka Judel
1937Let's Make a Night of ItSpecialty ActUncredited
1938MameleKhavtshi Samet aka Mamele
1948The Naked CitySoda-Selling ShopkeeperUncredited
1959StartimeSarah RabinowitzEpisode: "The Jazz Singer", a TV production starring Jerry Lewis
1961-1963Car 54, Where Are You?Mrs. Rachel Bronson3 episodes
1968 Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Molly Gordon 1 episode
1963Come Blow Your HornMrs. Sophie Baker
1971Fiddler on the RoofYente
1974For Pete's SakeMrs. Cherry
1975Murder on Flight 502Ida Goldman
1979That's Life
1981The Cannonball RunMom Goldfarb
1984Cannonball Run II

References


  1. "The Papers of Molly Picon (1898-1992)". JewishTheatre.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2007.
  2. "Unknown Title". Tucson Daily Citizen. Tucson, Arizona. August 29, 1952. p. 16.
  3. "This Week in History: Award for Yiddish actress, Molly Picon, June 28, 1980". jwa.org. Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  4. Pennsylvania Biographical Dictionary. North American Book Dist LLC. January 1999. ISBN 9780403099504. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  5. Plesur, Milton (1982). Jewish life in twentieth-century America: challenge and accommodation. Nelson-Hall. ISBN 9780882298009. Retrieved March 10, 2013.
  6. Shandler, Jeffrey (2014). Shtetl: A Vernacular Intellectual History. Rutgers, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. p. 41.
  7. Sies, Luther F. (2014). Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-5149-4. Pp. 523, 337, 455.
  8. Picon, Molly; Bergantini Grillo, Jean (1980). Molly! An Autobiography. New York: Simon and Schuster.
  9. "Relkin Drops Picon Theatre". The New York Times. February 12, 1943. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 16, 2022.
  10. "26 Elected to the Theater Hall of Fame". The New York Times. March 3, 1981.
  11. Picon Pie at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
  12. Deming, Mark (2012). "Making Trouble: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  13. "East and West" [film catalog entry]. National Center for Jewish Film. jewishfilm.org. Retrieved 29 March 2017.

Sources





На других языках


[de] Molly Picon

Molly Picon, ursprünglich Małka Opiekun (geboren 1. Juni 1898 in New York City; gestorben 5. April 1992 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, jiddisch: מאָלי פּיקאָן), war eine populäre jüdische Schauspielerin in den USA. Sie war bekannt für ihre Rollen im jiddischen Theater und Film, später auch in englischsprachigen Produktionen.
- [en] Molly Picon

[es] Molly Picon

Molly Picon (28 de febrero de 1898[1] – 5 de abril de 1992) fue una actriz teatral, cinematográfica y televisiva de nacionalidad estadounidense, así como letrista y monologuista.[2]Fue la primera y principal estrella del cine y el teatro yiddish, aunque también trabajó en producciones en lengua inglesa.

[ru] Молли Пикон

Молли Пикон (англ. Molly Picon, идиш ‏מאָלי פּיקאָן‏‎, урождённая Малка Опекун (англ. Małka Opiekun), 28 февраля 1898 (1898-02-28) — 5 апреля 1992) — американская актриса, номинантка на премии «Золотой глобус» и «Тони».



Текст в блоке "Читать" взят с сайта "Википедия" и доступен по лицензии Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike; в отдельных случаях могут действовать дополнительные условия.

Другой контент может иметь иную лицензию. Перед использованием материалов сайта WikiSort.org внимательно изучите правила лицензирования конкретных элементов наполнения сайта.

2019-2025
WikiSort.org - проект по пересортировке и дополнению контента Википедии