Leo Fuchs

Leo Fuchs, born Avrum Leib Fuchs on May 15, 1911, was a Polish-born American actor who performed across Yiddish theater, English-language stage productions, film, and television throughout the mid-twentieth century. His birthplace is a matter of some dispute: YIVO records identify Warsaw as his place of birth, while scholar Joel Schechter places his birth in Lwów, Galicia, a city then part of Poland and now known as Lviv, Ukraine. The database record for his Broadway work lists his origin as Lemberg, Austria-Hungary, a name that historically referred to the same city of Lwów. He died in Los Angeles on December 31, 1994.

Fuchs came from a family rooted in Yiddish theatrical life. His father, Yakov Fuchs, worked as a character actor, and his mother, Róża Fuchs, was a leading lady of the musical theatre who was shot dead by Nazi Germans during the Holocaust. Fuchs began acting in Polish at the age of five, and by seventeen he had earned recognition for his performances at the Warsaw cabaret Qui Pro Quo.

His American debut came in 1929 at the Second Avenue Theater in the Yiddish Theater District, where he appeared in Lucky Boy alongside Moishe Oysher. He relocated to New York City in 1935, and in the years that followed he became widely known as a comic, a dancer, and a coupletist, writing much of his own material and touring extensively. At the height of his career he was referred to as "The Yiddish Fred Astaire." In 1936, he married fellow actor Mirele Gruber and spent a year touring with her through Poland. The following year he appeared in two films: the short I Want to Be a Boarder, in which he performed his well-known song Trouble, and I Want to Be a Mother, which featured Yetta Zwerling. In 1940 he starred in Amerikaner Shadkhen, and he divorced in 1941 before later marrying Rebecca Richman.

Beginning in the 1960s, Fuchs expanded into English-language theater, television, and Hollywood film. His screen credits from this period include The Story of Ruth in 1960, The Frisco Kid in 1979, in which he appeared alongside Gene Wilder, and the role of Hymie Krichinsky in Barry Levinson's Avalon in 1990. His Broadway career included an appearance in the 1967 production of Cabaret.