Lou Jacobi
Jacobi inIvan the Terrible (1976)
Born	Louis Harold Jacobovitch (1913-12-28)December 28, 1913 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	October 23, 2009(2009-10-23) (aged 95) New York City, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1924-1994
Spouse	Ruth Ludwin ​ ​ (m. 1957; died 2004)​

Lou Jacobi (bornLouis Harold Jacobovitch; December 28, 1913 – October 23, 2009) was a Canadiancharacter actor. Jacobi came to prominence for his role as Mr. Van Daan in the 1955Broadway production ofThe Diary of Anne Frank which he reprised in the1959 film version. He also acted in the filmsIrma la Douce (1963),Little Murders (1971),Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972),Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976),The Lucky Star (1980),Arthur (1981),My Favorite Year (1982), andAvalon (1990).

Jacobi was born Louis Harold Jacobovitch inToronto, Canada, to Joseph and Fay Jacobovitch.^[1] His family wasJewish.^[2]

Jacobi began acting as a boy, making his stage debut in 1924 at a Toronto theater, playing a violin prodigy in theYiddish theater playThe Rabbi and the Priest.^[3] After working as the drama director of theToronto Y.M.H.A., the social director at a summer resort, a stand-up comic in Canada's equivalent of theBorscht Belt, and the entertainment at various weddings and bachelor parties, Jacobi moved to London to work on the stage, appearing inGuys and Dolls andPal Joey.

Jacobi's film debut was in the 1953 British comedy,Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? with the country's blond sex symbol of the day,Diana Dors. Jacobi made his Broadway debut in 1955 inThe Diary of Anne Frank playing Hans van Daan, the less-than-noble occupant of the Amsterdam attic where the Franks were hiding, and reprised the role inthe 1959 film version. Other Broadway performances includedPaddy Chayefsky’sThe Tenth Man (1959),Woody Allen’sDon’t Drink the Water (1966), andNeil Simon’s debut playCome Blow Your Horn (1961), in which he portrayed the playboy protagonist’s disappointed father. His reading of the film line "Aha!" stuck with theTimes columnistWilliam Safire so vividly that he cited it when writing about the meaning of the word 40 years later.^[4]

Other notable films in which he appeared includeIrma la Douce (1963),Penelope (1966),Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) as Sam Musgrave, a middle-aged married man experimenting with women's clothes,Arthur (1981) as the lucky florist,My Favorite Year (1982) as Benjy's unsophisticated Uncle Morty, and inAmazon Women on the Moon (1987), as a man named Murray who got zapped into the television and is wandering throughout sketches looking for his wife. In Barry Levinson'sAvalon (1990), in a semi-dramatic role, as one of four Russian brothers (elders) trying to build a future in Baltimore in the early 20th century, with the memorable comic relief catchphrase, "You cut the turkey!?" after he would notoriously arrive late to family Thanksgiving dinner, every year. His final film role wasI.Q. (1994), playing philosopher/mathematicianKurt Gödel.^[5]

He guest-starred on such television shows asPlayhouse 90,Too Close for Comfort,Tales from the Darkside,Love, American Style,That Girl,Sanford and Son,Barney Miller andThe Man from U.N.C.L.E., and was a regular onThe Dean Martin Show. In the summer of 1976, Jacobi was the star of a CBS comedy seriesIvan the Terrible, in which he played a Russian headwaiter living with nine other people in a small Moscow apartment.^[5] The series only lasted 5 episodes.

In 1999, Jacobi, who was 85 at the time, was inducted intoCanada's Walk of Fame.^[6] On the occasion of the dedication, film criticRoger Ebert interviewed Jacobi, later writing, "I look at Lou, and I’m not afraid to be 85, if I can get there in Lou's style."

Jacobi was married to Ruth Ludwin from 1957 until her death in 2004. Jacobi died on October 23, 2009, of natural causes, at his home in Manhattan. He was 95. He was survived by his brother, Avrom Jacobovitch, and sister, Rae Jacobovitch, both of Toronto.

Jacobi was one of the voice inspirations for theFuturama characterDr. Zoidberg.^[7]

• Oderman, Stuart,Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009;ISBN 1-59393-320-7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toLou Jacobi.

• Lou Jacobi atIMDb
• Lou Jacobi at theInternet Broadway Database

• 1913 births
• 2009 deaths
• Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States
• Canadian male film actors
• Canadian male stage actors
• Canadian male television actors
• Jewish Canadian male actors
• Male actors from New York City
• Male actors from Toronto
• 20th-century Canadian Jews
• 20th-century Canadian male actors

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles with hCards
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• IBDB name template using Wikidata