- David Opatoshu
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David Opatoshu 
Born David Opatovsky
January 30, 1918
New York City, New York, U.S.Died April 30, 1996 (aged 78)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.Occupation Actor; screenwriter Years active 1939-1991 Spouse Lillian Weinberg (m. 1941–1996) (his death) David Opatoshu (January 30, 1918 – April 30, 1996) was an American film, stage and television actor. He was born as David Opatovsky in New York City, where he was reared and educated.[1] His father was the Yiddish writer, Joseph Opatoshu.
Contents
Television
His career in television began in 1952 and lasted through the 1980s. In the fall of 1953, he played a theatric agent to Ezio Pinza in the NBC situation comedy Bonino. Other costars were Mary Wickes, Chet Allen, and Van Dyke Parks. The series focused upon an Italian American opera singer trying to rear his six children after having been widowed.[2]
He played Anan 7 in the original Star Trek series episode "A Taste of Armageddon", and also co-starred with James Doohan in an episode of The Twilight Zone, entitled "Valley of the Shadow". He guest-starred in the 1964 The Outer Limits episode "A Feasibility Study", also in the 1969 season 3 Ironside episode "L'Chayim", and in the 1981 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Time of the Hawk". On October 30, 1989, Mr. Opatashu guest-starred as the Tenctonese ex-slave 'Paul Revere', in the episode "Night of the Screams", of the television series Alien Nation. In 1991 he won an Emmy for his guest appearance in the episode "A Prayer for the Goldsteins" of the ABC series Gabriel's Fire.[3]
Films
His first film, The Light Ahead (1939), directed by Henry Felt and Edgar G. Ulmer, is notable for being entirely in Yiddish. Opatoshu gave memorable performances as the savvy homicide detective, Sgt. Ben Miller, in the definitive film noir, The Naked City (1948), produced by Mark Hellinger, and as the Irgun terrorist leader (and Ari Ben Canaan's estranged uncle) in Otto Preminger's 1960 film Exodus.
Stage
He appeared on Broadway in The Wall in 1960, and Bravo Giovanni in 1962, and others.
Screenwriter
David Opatoshu also wrote the screenplay for the film Romance of a Horsethief (1971), based on a novel by his father, Joseph Opatoshu.
Family
David Opatoshu was survived by his wife, Lillian Weinberg, a psychiatric social worker, whom he married on June 10, 1941. They had one child together, a son, Danny. Lillian died on May 13, 2000.[4]
References
- ^ New York Times
- ^ IMDb
- ^ The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present. Ballantine Books. 2003. pp. 1441. ISBN 0-345-45542-8.
- ^ The New York Times
External links
- David Opatoshu at the Internet Movie Database
- David Opatoshu at AllRovi
- David Opatoshu at Find a Grave
- David Opatoshu at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series (1975–2000) Patrick McGoohan (1975) · Gordon Jackson (1976) · Louis Gossett, Jr. (1977) · Barnard Hughes (1978) · John Lithgow (1986) · Joe Spano (1989) · Patrick McGoohan (1990) · David Opatoshu (1991) · Laurence Fishburne (1993) · Richard Kiley (1994) · Paul Winfield (1995) · Peter Boyle (1996) · Pruitt Taylor Vince (1997) · John Larroquette (1998) · Edward Herrmann (1999) · James Whitmore (2000)
Complete List · (1975–2000) · (2001–2025) Categories:- 1918 births
- 1996 deaths
- Actors from New York
- American film actors
- American screenwriters
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- American Jews
- American people of Russian-Jewish descent
- American people of Polish-Jewish descent
- Emmy Award winners
- People from Los Angeles, California
- People from New York City
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