At 80, Finkel Lives an Actor's Life

[MaxwellSt <MaxwellSt...>]

At 80, Finkel Lives an Actor's Life

By LYNN ELBER
.c The Associated Press 

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (AP) - On a studio soundstage filled with friends and 
colleagues, 80-year-old Fyvush Finkel bends over his birthday cake, takes a 
deep breath - and then breaks up the room with an off-color joke.

So what did you think, that Finkel would waste a moment in the spotlight just 
blowing out candles? Not a chance for this actor who's spent every one of his 
many decades on stage or screen.

``That's my life. Today, I'm 80 years old. I don't feel it. I feel 
wonderful,'' Finkel said as he marked his Oct. 9 birthday at Raleigh Studios, 
where he films the Fox series ``Boston Public.''

``The main thing is the mind should be clear. The mind IS clear,'' he said. 
``I don't use cue cards, thank God.''

Finkel, who started in Yiddish theater at age 9, is grateful for that and 
more. There's his alliance with writer-producer David E. Kelley, who cast the 
then-70 Finkel as a lawyer in ``Picket Fences'' and then hired him again in 
2000 for ``Boston Public'' (8 p.m. EDT Monday).

As history teacher Harvey Lipschultz, Finkel delivers his lines with a 
veteran's precise timing and an undiminished zest that younger performers, if 
they've got an ounce of sense, must envy.

``He's such a spirit,'' said Kelley. ``From the very beginning on 'Picket 
Fences,' he walks on the set and exudes this 'Aren't we lucky to be doing 
what we do?'''

``That attitude, that love of life, is just contagious. 'Picket Fences' and 
'Boston Public' both have always been happy, happy sets, and I think he has 
something to do with that,'' Kelley said.

Finkel's punim - Yiddish for face - alone could do the trick, with its broad, 
mischievous smile and those ears propped at a just-so angle for optimum comic 
effect.

His long career began in 1930 when a production in his Brooklyn neighborhood 
was looking for a boy to sing ``Oh, Promise Me.'' Recalls Finkel: ``I stopped 
that show cold. They gave me a dollar a night.''

In the vibrant Yiddish theater of the period, a solid performer could find 
steady work. Finkel, his eye on the prize and backed by his parents, studied 
singing, dancing and acting at a $1-a-week school.

Only adolescence interrupted the plan. ``My father and my mother, rest in 
peace, told me to earn a trade just in case my other voice doesn't come,'' F
inkel said.

A brief stint as a furrier didn't pan out - in a half-hour, ``I ruined about 
$500 worth of material'' - and he found himself back on stage when his new, 
mature voice settled in.

He took a job with Yiddish theater in Pittsburgh just shy of his 18th 
birthday. ``I thought, 'This is where I belong.' And I've been in the theater 
ever since.''

Not just theater. As a comedian, Finkel worked steadily at resorts in New 
York's Catskills region.

``They didn't call it standup in those days. They called it a single. I did 
50 hotels in a summer and only scratched the surface. They had 400 (resorts). 
But it evaporated.''

Yiddish theater faded as well, its annual seasons dwindling from 40 to 14 
weeks during Finkel's tenure. Then, in 1964, he was hired for the touring 
company of the Broadway hit ``Fiddler on the Roof.''

``I went to do 'Fiddler' for less money than I was getting in Yiddish 
theater, but I had to make the move. And it was the best move I ever made.''

He joined the ranks of Yiddish-language actors, including Molly Picon, Paul 
Muni and Herschel Bernardi, who successfully shifted into mainstream 
entertainment.

``Others, unfortunately, were too steeped in what they were doing, were too 
comfortable to get out,'' Finkel said.

At age 60, after 12 years with various productions of ``Fiddler on the 
Roof,'' he was cast in the off-Broadway musical ``Little Shop of Horrors.'' 
That opened up movies and TV for him, including ``Brighton Beach Memoirs'' 
(1986) and ``Q&A'' (1990).

He relishes having worked with top directors such as Oliver Stone (in 1995's 
``Nixon''), but it's Kelley he praises most. ``Impossible to get a genius 
better than that,'' says Finkel, who earned an Emmy for ``Picket Fences.''

The actor still weighs film roles but declines to audition. ``I tell them, 
'Take a chance. You're not buying a house.' I'll go to an interview. If it's 
a smart director, they can tell.''

Sharing the whirlwind is his constant companion, wife Trudy. They live a 
bicoastal life, in New York with their two sons and five grandchildren and 
great-children, in Los Angeles for work.

``This March, we live and be well, we'll be married 56 years,'' Finkel said.

``Not very long,'' interjects Trudy Finkel.

``In Hollywood, it's the record,'' he says, supplying the punchline with a 
grin.

Any intention of bringing his career to a close? ``If you retire, you shrivel 
up. No doubt about it. ... We enjoy what we're doing. And that's how it 
goes.''

On the Net:

http://www.fox/bostonpublic

EDITOR'S NOTE - Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber``at``ap.org


   
10/24/02 11:56 EDT
    Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.