Lou Jacobi


Actor
Lou Jacobi

About

Birth Place
Toronto, Ontario, CA
Born
December 28, 1913
Died
October 23, 2009

Biography

Hefty, balding character actor, sometimes mustachioed, whose explosive manner has been instantly recognizable on many years of TV comedy. Typically cast in ethnic roles as Jews, Italians, or Russians, Jacobi has also kept busy in TV commercials, most notably his Clio Award-winning work in a series of Hertz advertisements. He has also had a very active theater career, with roles in such p...

Family & Companions

Ruth Jacobi
Wife
Married on July 15, 1957.

Biography

Hefty, balding character actor, sometimes mustachioed, whose explosive manner has been instantly recognizable on many years of TV comedy. Typically cast in ethnic roles as Jews, Italians, or Russians, Jacobi has also kept busy in TV commercials, most notably his Clio Award-winning work in a series of Hertz advertisements. He has also had a very active theater career, with roles in such plays as "Spring Thaw" (1949), "Come Blow Your Horn" (1961), "Don't Drink the Water" (1966), "The Sunshine Boys" (1974) and "Cheaters" (1978). Although his most memorable early film role was as Mr. Van Daan, opposite Shelley Winters as one of the attic-confined Dutch Jews in "The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959), Jacobi has most often played alternately overbearing or put-upon men in such comedies as "Arthur" (1981) and "My Favorite Year" (1982), and such family sagas as "Avalon" (1990).

Life Events

1924

Early theatrical appearance, in "The Rabbi and the Priest"

1940

Worked as drama director of the Toronto YMHA

1951

Performed in clubs and on stage in England

1955

Discovery by Garson Kanin led to first Broadway role in "The Diary of Anne Frank"

1956

British film debut, "A Kid For Two Farthings"

1959

Made US film debut when he recreated the role of Mr. Van Daan for George Stevens' film version of "The Diary of Anne Frank"

1976

Played the title role of Ivan the headwaiter at the Hotel Metropole in Moscow on the summer sitcom, "Ivan the Terrible"

1986

Played the role of Jack on the short-lived TV sitcom, "Melba", starring Melba Moore

1986

Played the leading role of the Mayor on the ABC Afterschool Special, "The Day the Kids Took Over"

1990

Appeared on the Showtime comedy spoof, "Deep Dish TV"

Videos

Movie Clip

Diary Of Anne Frank, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Bring Only What You Can Carry Delivered by the hosts (Douglas Spencer, Dody Heath) and introduced to the hidden family (including Joseph Schildkraut, Shelley Winters, Millie Perkins as the title character and Lou Jacobi as Van Daan), dentist Dussell (Ed Wynn) brings harrowing news of Amsterdam, in George Stevens’ The Diary Of Anne Frank, 1959.
Irma La Douce (1963) -- (Movie Clip) Stomach Of Paris A portion of Louis Jourdan's opening narration from the Billy Wilder-I.A.L. Diamond script, introducing the Rue Casanova, Shirley MacLaine (title character) and her "Mec" Hippolyte (Bruce Yarnell), in Wilder's Irma La Douce, 1963.
Avalon (1990) -- (Movie Clip) I'll Never Understand This Holiday Thanksgiving, Baltimore, late 1940's, the family Krichinsky (also the director Barry Levinson's mother's maiden name), Sam (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and Eva (Joan Plowright) hosting, son Jules (Aidan Quinn) opposite, Gabriel (Lou Jacobi) griping, plus Elijah Wood age nine, early in Avalon, 1990.
Kid For Two Farthings, A (1956) -- (Movie Clip) Fix Me A Fight Impatient Sonia (Diana Dors) is persuaded by maybe well-meaning Blackie (Lou Jacobi) that her body-builder boyfriend Sam (Joe Robinson) could make easy money wrestling, young Joe (Jonathan Ashmore) getting interested when Python (Primo Carnera) starts abusing aging Bully (Danny Green), in A Kid For Two Farthings, 1956, from the novel by Wolf Mankowitz.
Song Without End (1960) -- (Movie Clip) God Didn't Make Him Simple Fanciful scene wherein Franz Liszt (Dirk Bogarde), with his annoyed mistress Countess Marie (Genevieve Page), at his hide-away near Chamonix receives friends George Sand (Patricia Morison), Chopin (Alex Davion) and manager Potin (Lou Jacobi) all at once, early in Song Without End, 1960.

Trailer

Family

Joseph Jacobi
Father
Fay Jacobi
Mother

Companions

Ruth Jacobi
Wife
Married on July 15, 1957.

Bibliography