David Opatoshu
January 30, 1918
April 30, 1996 (aged 78)
David Opatashu
Actor
1936–1996
1
- Joseph Opatoshu (father)
Opatoshu began his acting career in the Yiddish theater. Following his tenure in the role of "Mr. Carp" in the 1938 national tour of the play Golden Boy, he made his Broadway debut in 1940 in the play Night Music.[2] He then appeared in numerous television series and films. In 1991, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his role in the episode "A Prayer for the Goldsteins" of the television series Gabriel's Fire.
Stage[edit]
Opatoshu appeared on Broadway in Silk Stockings (1956), Once More, With Feeling (1958), The Wall (1960), Bravo Giovanni (1962), Lorenzo (1963), and Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? (1969).[2]
Screenwriter[edit]
David Opatoshu also wrote the screenplay for the film Romance of a Horsethief (1971), based on a novel by his father, Joseph Opatoshu.
Family[edit]
After serving with the Air Force 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. 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][1]