David Opatoshu
Opatoshu in the TV seriesOne Step Beyond, episodeEarthquake, 1960
Born	David Opatovsky (1918-01-30)January 30, 1918 New York City, U.S.
Died	April 30, 1996(1996-04-30) (aged 78) Los Angeles,California, U.S.
Other names	David Opatashu
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1936–1996
Spouse	Lillian Weinberg ​ ​ (m. 1941; (his death) 1996)​
Children	1
Father	Joseph Opatoshu

David Opatoshu (bornDavid Opatovsky; January 30, 1918 – April 30, 1996) was an American actor. He is best known for his role in the filmExodus (1960).^[1]

Opatoshu began his acting career in theYiddish theater. Following his tenure in the role of "Mr. Carp" in the 1938 national tour of the playGolden Boy, he made his Broadway debut in 1940 in the playNight Music.^[2]

After serving with the Army Air Forces in the South Pacific during World War II, Opatoshu returned to Manhattan and worked in radio, theater, television and films. His wartime experiences provided the material for "Between Sea and Sand," a collection of short stories he published in Yiddish in 1946.

His first film,The Light Ahead (1939), directed by Henry Felt andEdgar G. Ulmer, is notable for being entirely in Yiddish. Opatoshu appeared as the homicide detective, Sgt. Ben Miller, inJules Dassin's film noir,The Naked City (1948) produced by Mark Hellinger, and again in Dassin'sThieves Highway. In 1953 he appeared inHenri Verneuil'sPublic Enemy Number One.

In 1958, he played a supporting character inThe Brothers Karamazov with his futureStar Trek co-starWilliam Shatner. He played theIrgun leader (and Ari Ben Canaan's estranged uncle) inOtto Preminger's 1960 filmExodus. He played the father of Benny Rampell in 1963's "The Cardinal" uncredited.

In 1965 he played the supervillain inTarzan and the Valley of Gold, then portrayed Herr Jacobi, one of the people who helpPaul Newman andJulie Andrews escape from East Germany in Alfred Hitchcock's 1966 filmTorn Curtain.

In 1967, Opatoshu played Morris Kolowitz, the father of the main character David (Reni Santoni), inCarl Reiner's directorial debutEnter Laughing. In the 1977 film,Raid on Entebbe, he played the part ofMenachem Begin, a film based on the actualOperation Entebbe and the freeing of hostages atEntebbe Airport inEntebbe,Uganda on July 4, 1976. He had played Begin's fictional counterpart inExodus.

His career in television began in 1949 and lasted through the 1980s.

In 1963, he co-starred withJames Doohan in an episode ofThe Twilight Zone titled "Valley of the Shadow". He guest-starred in the 1964The Outer Limits episode "A Feasibility Study"; in the 1965Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "The Price of Doom"; and in the 1965 two-part episode ofThe Man from U.N.C.L.E. called "The Alexander the Greater Affair".

In 1967, he played Anan 7 in the originalStar Trek series episode "A Taste of Armageddon". In 1969, he figured in aHawaii Five-O episode "Face of the Dragon", and also in the 1969 season 3Ironside episode "L'Chayim", and inMannix, in the episode "A Pittance of Faith", as Mr. Lardelli, in the same year.

Opatoshu played in a 1970 episode ofDaniel Boone as "Tamenund", an agedPequot Indian bent on revenge for his tribe's near-extinction. He was also in the "No Way to Treat a Relative" episode of the 1973 situation comedyNeedles and Pins (never broadcast because of the show's cancellation), theKojak episode "Both Sides of the Law", the 1977The Bionic Woman episode "Doomsday is Tomorrow", the 1978Little House on the Prairie episode "I'll Be Waving as You Drive Away", the 1981Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Time of the Hawk", and the 1981 miniseriesMasada. In 1986 he played an Iranian ambassador in the TV thrillerUnder Siege, about Islamic terrorist attacks in the United States.

On October 30, 1989, Opatashu guest-starred as the Tenctonese ex-slave Paul Revere in the episode "Night of the Screams", of the television seriesAlien Nation.

In 1991, he won anEmmy Award for his guest appearance in the episode "A Prayer for the Goldsteins" of theABC seriesGabriel's Fire.^[3]

Opatoshu appeared on Broadway inSilk Stockings (1956),Once More, With Feeling (1958),The Wall (1960),Bravo Giovanni (1962),Lorenzo (1963), andDoes a Tiger Wear a Necktie? (1969).^[2]

David Opatoshu also wrote the screenplay for the filmRomance of a Horsethief (1971), based on a novel by his father, Joseph Opatoshu.

David Opatoshu was survived by his wife, Lillian Weinberg, a psychiatricsocial worker, whom he married on June 10, 1941. They had one child together, a son, Danny. Lillian died on May 13, 2000.^[4][1]

• David Opatoshu atIMDb
• David Opatoshu at theInternet Broadway Database
• David Opatoshu discography atDiscogs
• David Opatoshu atFind a Grave
• David Opatoshu atMemory Alpha

• 1918 births
• 1996 deaths
• American people of Jewish descent
• American Ashkenazi Jews
• Male actors from New York City
• American male film actors
• American male screenwriters
• American male stage actors
• American male television actors
• American people of Russian-Jewish descent
• American people of Polish-Jewish descent
• Male actors from Los Angeles
• Primetime Emmy Award winners
• 20th-century American male actors
• Jewish American male actors
• Screenwriters from New York (state)
• Screenwriters from California
• 20th-century American male writers
• 20th-century American screenwriters
• 20th-century American Jews

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