Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version of The Producers. He was blacklisted during the 1950s, and his testimony before the House Committee on Un-American Activities was well-publicized. He was a Tony Award and Obie Award winner. Mostel was born to Israel Mostel, an Eastern European Jew, and Cina "Celia" Druchs, also from a... Jewish family, who was born in Poland and raised in Vienna. The two immigrated to the United States , where they met and married. Israel already had four children from his first wife; he had four more children with Cina. Samuel, later known as Zero, was Israel's seventh child. It is said that Samuel Mostel got his nickname "Zero" since his parents were not kind with words and always told him that he would only ever amount to "Gournisht," which is Yiddish for "zero" or "nothing." The rest is history.
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| Birthdate: | February 28, 1915 |
| Birthplace: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Date of death: | September 8, 1977 |
| Also known as: | Samuel Joel Mostel, Mostel, Zero |