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'Alfred Bass' (born 'Abraham Basalinksy'; 8 April 1921 – 15 July 1987) was a diminutive cockney-accented English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London to a Jewish family^[1]. His name was originally Abraham Basalinsky.^[2]

Contents

Career

Footnotes

External links

Career

He began his acting career at Unity Theatre, London in the late 1930s, appearing in ''Plant In The Sun'', and as the pantomime King in ''Babes In The Wood''. Bass first appeared on film in wartime documentariesAlfie Bass biography accessed 26 Jun 2007. His stage career spanned classics by Shakespeare and Shaw, but on film he applied the lessons of his youth, playing pragmatic working class roles, speaking a cockney vernacular. During the 1950s he continued to direct shows at Unity, and on one occasion appeared in court (along with Vida Hope) charged with putting on a play without a license.^[3].
Among his most often seen films (by modern audiences), are ''The Lavender Hill Mob'' and ''A Tale of Two Cities''. He also starred in Roman Polanski's horror sex romp ''The Fearless Vampire Killers'' as the character Yoine Shagal, the innkeeper. Initially, he seeks to protect his beautiful daughter Sarah, portrayed by Sharon Tate, from the local vampire lord. However, the vampire lord prevails, turning Shagal and his daughter into vampires. When a maid tries to scare him off with a crucifix, he is unaffected since he is a Jew (thus becoming perhaps the first Jewish vampire in film). His character spends the rest of the movie dealing with his vampirism, spouting off funny one-liners and seeking to fulfil his sexual cravings.
One of his little-seen film appearances is the Pride segment of ''The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins''. He also appeared in many cameo roles, such as the Indian restaurant doorman in the Beatles' movie ''Help!'' (1965), and in ''Moonraker'' (1979).
He continued working until the turn of the 1980s and had roles in the TV series ''Till Death Us Do Part'', ''Minder'', and ''Are You Being Served?''. He sometimes emphasised his Jewish background in the accent he used on screen.
He also guest starred in two episodes of the British comedy television ''The Goodies'', in which he appeared as the "Town Planner" in ''Camelot'', and as the "Giant" in ''The Goodies and the Beanstalk''.
He starred in ''The Army Game'' a British TV comedy series of the late 1950s and early 1960s, and then co-starred in its sequel ''Bootsie and Snudge'' as a tramp with Bill Fraser and Clive Dunn. Both series were very popular in Britain. He also had success on the stage, in particular with ''The Bespoke Overcoat'' which was filmed in 1956. He successfully took over from Topol in the lead role in ''Fiddler on the Roof'' on the West End stage.
He also appeared in the 1950s Landmark BBC Radio SF Series ''Journey Into Space'' as Lemuel "Lemmy" Barnet.
He died of a heart attack in 1987.

Footnotes

1. Alfie Bass Obituary
2. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
3. Colin Chambers ''The Story of Unity Theatre, London'' (1990)

The most successful and internationally distributed movie in which he appeared was the 1966 release of ''Alfie'' starring Michael Caine and Shelley Winters. He played Harry Clamacraft.

External links

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