Alexander Asro

Alexander Asro (also known as Aleksander Azro; 10 February 1888 – January 1963) was a film and theatre actor born in Vilna, in the Russian Empire, the city known today as Vilnius, Lithuania. His Broadway career spanned from 1937 to 1953, with credits including Room Service, Leave It to Me!, and Joy to the World.

Asro's earliest performances came in childhood, when he and his friend Jacob Lubotsky — the brother of Sonia Alomis, who would later become Asro's wife — staged informal circus-style entertainments for other children. His first public appearance before an audience came at age 13, when he played the role of Yehuda in the Biblical play Mechirat Yosef (The Sale of Joseph), a production mounted by older tradesmen through the dramatic circles of the Jewish Labor Bund. That performance brought him to the attention of actor Yehoshua Bertonov, who introduced him to a group performing Russian vaudeville. He also participated in guest performances alongside Jacob Ben-Ami.

At sixteen, Asro became involved in the workers' movement. Following his arrest and internment, he fled to Kyiv, where he enrolled in an art school to study painting while simultaneously attending a Realschule, supported by a stipend from Baron Günzburg. In Kyiv he joined the Solovtsov Theater, beginning as an extra before advancing to small roles. He subsequently studied in the law department of the Kiev commercial school for approximately nine months, then served a year in the Russian military. After his discharge, he returned to Vilna.

Around 1908, Asro became active in a literary dramatic circle in Vilna that included Noah Nachbush, Chaim Shneur, Sonia Alomis, Rachel-Dora Rivkina, and Frieda Blumental. The group worked with playwright Peretz Hirschbein, performing his plays and traveling into the Lithuanian provinces. During the German occupation of Vilna in the autumn of 1915, Asro and several of these same colleagues participated in an amateur group presenting dramatic readings and one-act plays. They became part of the broader association known as the Fareyn fun yidishe dramatishe artisten (FADA), and Asro took part in organizing the group's first performance. A local circus owner, fearing military requisition of his venue, offered the space for the occasion. The company premiered in February 1916 with a performance of Der landsman (The Countryman), a comedy by Sholem Asch. Modeling itself on Stanislavski's troupe and committed to a purely literary Yiddish theater, this company went on to become known as the Vilna Troupe.

Asro originated the role of Sasha Smirnoff in the 1937 Broadway production of Room Service. He reprised the role in the 1938 Marx Brothers film adaptation of the same title, and returned to it once more in the 1953 Broadway revival. His additional Broadway credits during this period included Leave It to Me! and Joy to the World. Beyond the stage, Asro appeared in several comedic films in the United States.