Herschel Bernardi

Herschel Bernardi (October 30, 1923 – May 9, 1986) was an American actor, singer, and voiceover artist born in New York, New York, whose career spanned stage, television, film, and commercial work across several decades. He is remembered for a range of performances in each medium, though his stage work — particularly his portrayal of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof — stood as his most celebrated achievement.

Bernardi launched his acting career in the Yiddish theatre movement on New York's Lower East Side, an experience he later honored by narrating and emceeing The Golden Age of Second Avenue, a 1969 documentary film about that theatrical tradition. His early career was disrupted when he was blacklisted in the 1950s due to alleged involvement in the Communist Party, a period that curtailed his professional opportunities. He later appeared in The Front (1976), a film directly addressing the subject of blacklisting in the entertainment industry; Bernardi himself, along with several other cast members, the screenwriter, and the director, had been victims of that practice.

His Broadway career ran from 1964 to 1981 and included four productions: Bajour, Fiddler on the Roof, Zorba, and The Goodbye People. Beginning in November 1965, Bernardi played Tevye — the third actor to take the role on Broadway following Zero Mostel and Luther Adler — for 702 performances over three years. He received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical in 1969 for his work in Zorba, and a second Tony nomination in the same category in 1982 for the 1981 revival of Fiddler on the Roof. His Fiddler on the Roof cast album reached number 138 on the Billboard Top LPs chart during a five-week run. In 1967, he released a single, "If I Were a Rich Man," which reflected his association with the Tevye role, and in 1971 he released "Pencil Marks on the Wall."

On television, Bernardi co-starred with Craig Stevens in Blake Edwards's detective series Peter Gunn, which ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961. He portrayed police Lieutenant Jacoby and received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Continuing Character in a Dramatic Series in 1959. He also appeared in Harbor Command and The Eleventh Hour, both alongside Wendell Corey, and in State Trooper with Rod Cameron. In 1961, he guest-starred in the Bonanza episode "The Smiler" as Clarence Bolling, and in 1963 he appeared in the NBC drama Mr. Novak as Mr. Otis in the episode "I Don't Even Live Here." From 1970 to 1972, he starred in the CBS sitcom Arnie, playing a loading dock worker elevated to an executive position at a flange company. The role earned him consecutive Golden Globe nominations for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series — Musical or Comedy in 1971 and 1972. He appeared as Joe Vitelli in the 1977 television miniseries Seventh Avenue, and in 1985 played Helmut Luger in the ABC comedy Hail to the Chief.

Bernardi's film credits included Murder by Contract (1958), A Cold Wind in August (1961), The George Raft Story (1961), Irma La Douce (1963), Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), No Deposit, No Return (1976), and The Front (1976). He also provided the voice of Woodhead the rocking horse in Filmation's Journey Back to Oz and supplied the Cowardly Lion's singing voice in that production, while Milton Berle voiced the character's spoken dialogue. As a voiceover artist, Bernardi was the original voice of StarKist Tuna's animated character Charlie the Tuna, the original voice of the Jolly Green Giant, and the narrator of a long-running Tootsie Pop commercial. In 1961, the Vanguard Recording Society released Chocolate Covered Matzohs, a live recording made at the Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles featuring Bernardi performing sentimental and humorous stories in Yiddish and English about Jewish immigration to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century, along with songs.

Bernardi died in his sleep of a heart attack in Los Angeles on May 9, 1986, at the age of 62.