Nehemiah Persoff was born on August 14, 1920 in Jerusalem, Israel. In 1937, he graduated from the Hebrew Technical Institute of New York and worked as an electrician and signal maintenance man on New York's subway system. He also served in the Armed Forces. Persoff made his stage debut in 1940 on off Broadway and his first screen appearance in 1954 in ON THE WATERFRONT.

He played many character parts, usually a heavy, on television shows such as NAKED CITY, THE UNTOUCHABLES, ROUTE 66, RAWHIDE, THE BIG VALLEY, TWILIGHT ZONE, U.N.C.L.E., THE WILD WILD WEST, GUNSMOKE and COLUMBO.

Persoff has performed in countless Broadway productions and had great success with his well-received one-man show called NEHEMIAH PERSOFF'S SHOLEM ALEICHEM.

The Wild Wild West Episodes
The Night of the Inferno .... General Andreas Cassinello
The Night of the Deadly Blossom .... Adam Barclay
The Night of the Underground Terror .... Major Hazard

Filmography
American Tail: Fievel Goes West, An (1991) (voice) .... Papa Mousekewitz
Big Knife, The (1988) (TV)
Last Temptation of Christ, The (1988) .... Rabbi
Twins (1988) .... Mitchell Traven
American Tail, An (1986) (voice)
Sadat (1983) (TV)
Yentl (1983) .... Yentl's father
O'Hara's Wife (1982) .... Dr. Fisher
St. Helens (1981) .... Mr. Ellison
Condominium (1980) (TV)
F.D.R.: The Last Year (1980) (TV) .... Josef Stalin
Henderson Monster, The (1980) (TV)
In Search of Historic Jesus (1980) .... Herod Antipas
Turnover Smith (1980) (TV)
"French Atlantic Affair, The" (1979) (mini) TV Series .... Colonel Schreiner
"Word, The" (1978) (mini) TV Series .... Abbot Petropolous
Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women (1978) (TV)
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident (1976) (TV)
Voyage of the Damned (1976) .... Mr. Hauser
Psychic Killer (1975)
Sex Symbol, The (1974) (TV) .... Nick Fortis
Stranger Within, The (1974) (TV)
Lieutenant Schuster's Wife (1972) (TV)
Mrs. Pollifax--Spy (1971) .... Berisha
People Next Door, The (1970) .... Dr. Salazar
Girl Who Knew Too Much, The (1969) .... Lieutenant Crawford
Money Jungle, The (1968)
Power, The (1968) .... Carl Melnicker
Giorno della civetta, Il (1967)
Panic in the City (1967)
Greatest Story Ever Told, The (1965) .... Shemiah
Fate Is the Hunter (1964) .... Ben Sawyer
Global Affair, A (1964) .... Under Secretary Segura
Hook, The (1963)
Big Show, The (1961) .... Bruno
Comancheros, The (1961) .... Graile
Al Capone (1959) .... Johnny Torrio
Day of the Outlaw (1959) .... Dan
Green Mansions (1959)
Never Steal Anything Small (1959) .... Pinelli
Some Like It Hot (1959) .... Bonaparte
Men in War (1957) .... Sergeant Lewis
Street of Sinners (1957)
Wrong Man, The (1957) .... Gene Conforti
Harder They Fall, The (1956) .... Leo
On the Waterfront (1954) .... Cab Driver