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The son of Yugoslavian immigrants, character actor Louis Zorich began his career in Canada following his training at the Goodman School of Theater in his hometown of Chicago, IL. He made his Broadway debut in Jean Anouilh's "Becket" (1960), starring Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quinn, and has returned to the Great White Way in such productions as "Death of a Salesman" (1984) and "She Loves Me" (1993), among others. With his wife Olympia Dukakis, Zorich co-founded the Whole Theater in Montclair, New Jersey in 1972, maintaining it for 18 years before finally having to close it.After appearing in a small role as a cab driver in Don Siegel's "Coogan's Bluff" (1968), Zorich achieved a higher profile as the constable in Norman Jewison's "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971). His other feature credits include "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984) and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1988), both for director Frank Oz, and John Sayles' "City of Hope" (1991). Zorich has achieved his greatest exposure by far from series TV, particularly as the star of CBS' "Brooklyn Bridge" (1991-93) and in the recurring role of Paul Reiser's father on the long-running "Mad About You" (NBC, 1992-99).
The son of Yugoslavian immigrants, character actor Louis Zorich began his career in Canada following his training at the Goodman School of Theater in his hometown of Chicago, IL. He made his Broadway debut in Jean Anouilh's "Becket" (1960), starring Laurence Olivier and Anthony Quinn, and has returned to the Great White Way in such productions as "Death of a Salesman" (1984) and "She Loves Me" (1993), among others. With his wife Olympia Dukakis, Zorich co-founded the Whole Theater in Montclair, New Jersey in 1972, maintaining it for 18 years before finally having to close it.
After appearing in a small role as a cab driver in Don Siegel's "Coogan's Bluff" (1968), Zorich achieved a higher profile as the constable in Norman Jewison's "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971). His other feature credits include "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984) and "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (1988), both for director Frank Oz, and John Sayles' "City of Hope" (1991). Zorich has achieved his greatest exposure by far from series TV, particularly as the star of CBS' "Brooklyn Bridge" (1991-93) and in the recurring role of Paul Reiser's father on the long-running "Mad About You" (NBC, 1992-99).
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CAST: (feature film)
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Notes
"As a kid in Chicago, I went to vaudeville and loved it. Somehow, I think I always wanted to be on the stage. I was stationed at Fort Kilmer, NJ in World War II [before] being sent to Europe, when they brought in 'Rosalinda' a musical adaptation of 'Die Fledermaus', and I knew then I'd have to be onstage. I tried to to get into the Special Services branch, to work in projects like that, but I couldn't. I was with an Engineer battalion in Europe, but I didn't see any combat. Spent most of the time in England and France ...
"Olympia [Dukakis] and I have been married for 31 years, but except for the Whole Theater, we seldom work together. Would you believe I was up for the part of her husband in the movie 'Moonstruck', but I didn't get it? Vince Gardenia did. Norman Jewison [the director] didn't think I was right for it." --Louis Zorich to Daily News, November 2, 1993.
Zorich and wife Dukakis have performed together at the Williamstown Theatre, where they have done in Zorich's words "a lot of Chekhov."
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