von Trapp in the original Broadway production of “The Sound of Music,” playing opposite Mary Martin as Maria. -- Theodore Roosevelt, former President of the United States, died this morning between 4 and 4:15 o'clock while asleep in his bed at his home on Sagamore Hill, in this place. He was nominated for an Academy Award as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones in 1958. Los Angeles: Oscar and Tony-nominated character actor and folk singer Theodore Bikel, who played Captain von Trapp in "The Sound of Music" on Broadway and starred in "Fiddler on the Roof" onstage, has died. He was 91. More recent film credits include "Dark Tower" (1989), "Second Chances" (1998) and "Crime and Punishment" (2002). Bikel was born in Vienna, Austria on May 2, 1924. Theodore Meir Bikel (May 2, 1924 – July 21, 2015) was an Austrian-American actor, singer, and musician. It earned him a second Tony nomination.Bikel also served as a delegate to the 1968 Democratic Party convention in Chicago, board member of Amnesty International, member of the National Council on the Arts, and president of the Associated Actors and Artistes of America.Bikel is survived by his wife, Aimee Ginsburg; sons Rob and Danny Bikel; stepsons Zeev and Noam Ginsburg; and three grandchildren.Within a few years, he won a role in the London production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” with Vivien Leigh, playing Mitch, Stanley Kowalski’s friend. Actor, singer and activist Theodore Bikel grew up in a second-floor apartment in Vienna where the family book collection included a 20-volume complete works of Yiddish storyteller Sholem Aleichem. He was 91.Late into his life, Bikel wrote and starred in numerous performances of the play and musical "Sholom Aleichem: Laughter Through Tears," which had its world premiere in Washington in 2008.
While living on a kibbutz there, he discovered his love for drama.“Finally, Theo gets his due!” Asner said.He made his Broadway debut in 1955 in “Tonight in Samarkind” and in 1958 was nominated for a Tony for “The Rope Dancers.”“Professionally, I can count three or four separate existences,” he said.“A few of my contemporaries regarded what I did as a character flaw, if not a downright act of desertion,” he wrote. Find Theodore Bikel Death at NDTVMovies.com, get the Latest Theodore Bikel Death, News, Videos & Pictures on Theodore Bikel Death. Birthday: May 2, 1924 Date of Death: July 21, 2015 Age at Death… Other memorable feature credits include "The African Queen", "I Want to Live! He moved to the United States in 1954.