Comedian Zero Mostel practically ruled Broadway in the 1960s, winning three Tony Awards during the decade. He was part of the original cast of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, appearing as Pseudolus, and Fiddler on the Roof, where he created the role of Tevye. Mostel's interpretations of these characters would influence all future versions of the plays as well as their movie adaptations. The actor's talent also lent itself to big screen success. He recreated his A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum role in the 1966 movie and originated the part of Max Bialystock in Mel Brooks' film The Producers (1968). Mostel was also an accomplished artist, and in his early days, it was art, rather than comedy that he set out to pursue as a career.

He was born Samuel Joel Mostel in Brooklyn, New York on February 28, 1915. Mostel grew up in an Orthodox Jewish Family. Both of his parents were immigrants. He was the seventh of eight children. After a brief move to a Connecticut farm, the family would settle on New York's Lower East Side where Mostel attended school and began his art education. He also created his own unique art opportunities – frequenting the Metropolitan Museum of Art where he drew crowds by copying the paintings. According to one source, Mostel even copied a painting upside down on one occasion to the delight of the audience. His family described him as an outgoing child with a sense of humor although Mostel's father had hopes his son would become a rabbi. His peers apparently had a different take on their classmate. Mostel's high school yearbook caption read, "A future Rembrandt...or perhaps a comedian?"

After attending the City College of New York, Mostel began teaching art through a Public Works Project and also gave lectures at galleries. As a result he soon developed a following and started to perform at private parties and, in one instance, the Labor Union Social Club, an engagement that would come back to haunt him. In February of 1942, Mostel made his professional debut as a comedian at a nightclub called Café Society. It was here that the name Zero Mostel was coined. The club's press agent convinced Mostel to change his name hoping a tagline like "here's a man who made something out of nothing" would prove catchy.

Mostel's star rose quickly in the early 1940s. He appeared on radio shows and toured the national nightclub circuit. He made his acting debut in the play Café Crown, which was staged by Elia Kazan. In 1942, he appeared on Broadway in the musical Keep 'em Laughing and another Broadway appearance came later that same year with Top-Notchers. Then Hollywood came calling in 1943 and Mostel appeared on the big screen in the role of Rami the Swami in Du Barry Was a Lady. It's no wonder a 1943 issue of Life Magazine described him as "just about the funniest American now living."

Movies kept Mostel busy in the early '50s and he made his second Elia Kazan film, Panic in the Streets (1950) plus he appeared opposite Humphrey Bogart in two films, The Enforcer and Sirocco (both 1951). That same year, he also found time to make three films for Fox: the comedies Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell and The Model and the Marriage Broker along with the sports-drama The Guy Who Came Back. During this period, Mostel also continued his stage work, appearing in the 1952 drama Flight Into Egypt and the farce Lunatics and Lovers which ran from 1954 through 1955.

Everything appeared to be going well for Mostel when suddenly his career came to an abrupt halt in the mid-50s. Mostel was named as a communist supporter and was subpoenaed to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee in August 1955. Even under oath, Mostel couldn't pass up the chance to entertain. He apparently made a big scene, leaping out of his chair and yelling, "He called me a communist! Get him out of here!" at the lawyer who had asked about his affiliations. Eventually Mostel pleaded the Fifth, but refused to name names. As a result, he was blacklisted in Hollywood and the most popular nightclubs and had a very difficult time finding work.

The blacklist, however, did not apply to the theatre and ultimately, Mostel's blacklisting, which shifted his focus back to the stage, actually ended up transforming his career. In 1958 he landed a role in an Off-Off Broadway play called Ulysses in Nighttown, that was being directed by Burgess Meredith. The performance earned Mostel the Obie (for Best Off Broadway Performance). After recovering from a serious leg injury - he was hit by a bus! - Mostel returned to Broadway in the 1961 play Rhinoceros by Theatre of the Absurd playwright Eugene Ionesco. For his role, which required him to transition from man to rhinoceros through pantomime, not makeup, Mostel would win his first Tony Award as Best Actor.

A second Tony for Best Actor in a Musical would be won for his 1962 performance in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. And in 1964, Mostel struck gold again, in Fiddler on the Roof. He won his third Tony Award for his landmark portrayal of the poor patriarch Tevye. So it came as a surprise when Topol was later cast instead of Mostel in the 1971 film adaptation of Fiddler.

Still, Mostel's film career was going strong and he appeared in a number of movies in the late 60s and early 70s - the most memorable of which was The Producers. It was a film Mostel didn't even want to make. It seems Mel Brooks had to convince Mostel to show his wife the script and she is the one who urged him to take the role. The Producers would earn Mostel his only Golden Globe nomination. His other films of the period include Great Catherine (1968), based on the George Bernard Shaw play; The Angel Levine (1970), which featured Harry Belafonte as Mostel's guardian angel; Rhinoceros (1974), an adaptation of the Tony Award winner; and The Front (1976), a comedy-drama about the blacklist.

Mostel returned to the theatre in 1974 for a revival of Ulysses in Nighttown which earned him another Tony nomination. A revival of Fiddler on the Roof would follow in 1976. Sadly, Mostel fell ill in 1977, after being cast in The Merchant, a retelling of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and he would not see opening night. Zero Mostel died on September 8, 1977. He was 62-years old.

by Stephanie Thames