Michael Granger

Michael Granger, born Milton Grossman on May 14, 1923, in Kansas City, Missouri, was an American actor whose career spanned film, television, and Broadway. He was Jewish. Granger died on October 22, 1981, in New York City of heart failure.

Granger's Broadway career extended from 1964 to 1980 and encompassed a range of productions. He originated the role of Lazar Wolf, the butcher, in the 1964 Broadway premiere of Fiddler on the Roof, and his performance is preserved on the original cast recording, where he can be heard singing "L'Chaim" alongside Zero Mostel. In 1975, he appeared in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, a production that also starred Liv Ullmann and Sam Waterston. His additional Broadway credits included The Alchemist, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, the musical East Wind, and Tennessee Williams' Clothes for a Summer Hotel, in which he appeared in 1980.

Beyond the stage, Granger worked extensively in film and television. His screen credits included The Big Heat and a number of B movies, among them Creature with the Atom Brain. On television, he appeared in such series as Rawhide, Gunsmoke, Kojak, and The Untouchables. In the later years of his life, Granger's resonant bass speaking voice made him a sought-after voiceover actor.