Tutte Lemkow

Who was Tutte Lemkow?

Tutte Lemkow was a Norwegian actor and dancer, who played mostly villainous roles in British television and films. His chief claims to mainstream familiarity were his roles as "the fiddler" in the film version of Fiddler on the Roof and the old man who translates the Staff of Ra for Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. He also appeared as a dancer in John Huston's 1952 film Moulin Rouge and Blake Edwards' A Shot in the Dark as the Cossack who drinks the poison intended for Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau. Lemkow also appeared in the Sellers films The Wrong Arm of the Law, The Wrong Box and Ghost in the Noonday Sun as well as Woody Allen's Love and Death.

Lemkow was born in Oslo, Norway of Jewish heritage. He played three roles in Doctor Who with William Hartnell's Doctor: Kuiju in Marco Polo, Ibrahim in The Crusade and Cyclops in The Myth Makers, as well as providing choreography for The Celestial Toymaker. He also appeared in the Morecambe and Wise comedy film The Intelligence Men.