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STAR
SEARCH
(
listed as 1934, 1937 and
1938.
Ms. Louise appeared in
numerous stage plays and
films, including God's
Little Acre and The Step-
ford Wives, before going on
to star from 1964-1967 as
the sexy movie star on
"Gilligan's Island." She
also guest starred on
"Kung Fu," "The Love
•
Boat" and "Mannix."
ROSS MARTIN was
born Martin Rosenblatt in
1920 in Grodek, Poland,
and came to the United
States as a child.
Though best known for
his role as Artemus Gordon
on "The Wild, Wild West,"
Mr. Martin also appeared
in The Great Race with
Peter Falk and Jack
Lemmon.
Mr. Martin died in 1981
in California.
MARLEE MATLIN,
star of the new television
series "Reasonable
Doubts," lives in Los
Angeles. She is the
daughter of Jewish parents
with roots in Russia and
Poland.
Ms. Matlin, who was
raised in Morton Grove,
Ill., has two brothers, Eric
and Marc. She got her ac-
ting start at 7, when she
appeared in The Wizard of
Oz for the Center of
Deafness children's
theater. At 22, Ms. Matlin
won an Academy Award
for her portrayal of Sarah
26
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1991
Norman in Children of a
Lesser God.
PAUL MAZURSKY,
writer, actor and director,
was born in 1930 in
Brooklyn. His parents were
Jean Gerson and David
Mazursky, a laborer for the
Works Progress Ad-
ministration.
While in college, Mr.
Mazursky (born Irwin
Mazursky) starred as a GI
in Fear and Desire, a pri-
vate film made by then-
unknown director Stanley
Kubrick. His next role was
in the 1954 MGM classic
The Blackboard Jungle, in
which another young actor,
Sidney Poitier, made his
debut.
Among Mr. Mazursky's
films are Bob and Carol
and Ted and Alice, An
Unmarried Woman, Harry
and Tonto and Next Stop,
Greenwich Village.
PAUL NEWMAN,
dashing blue-eyed actor of
stage and screen, was born
in Cleveland in 1925. His
mother was a Christian
Scientist; his father, Ar-
thur Newman, was Jewish.
Mr. Newman identifies
himself as a Jew and sup-
ports a number of Jewish
causes.
For a time, Mr. Newman
considered taking over the
family business, a sporting
goods store, as his parents
expected. But he left
Cleveland in 1951 and set-
tled in New York, where he
sold encyclopedias. Soon
after arriving in New
York, he began to find bit
parts on television pro-
grams. When he was 28, he
made his first Broadway
appearance.
Mr. Newman received an
Oscar in 1987 for The Color
of Money. He also has
starred in such classic
films as Butch Cassidy and
the Sundance Kid, Cool
Hand Luke, The Hustler
and Hud.
OLIVIA NEWTON-
JOHN, singer and Grease
star, is the granddaughter
of Max Born, a German-
British physicist and 1954
Nobel Prize winner.
The late Mr. Born was
dismissed in 1933 from
Germany's Goettingen
University, where he lec-
tured in physics, because
he was a Jew. This move
came despite the fact that
Mr. Born had broken ties
with the Jewish commun-
ity. After his dismissal
from Goettingen, Mr. Born
settled in England and
taught applied
mathematics at Edinburgh
University. His daughter,
Irene, is Ms. Newton-
John's mother.
Ms. Newton-John, born
in England in 1948, has
received numerous music
awards, among them a
1973 Grammy, and starred
in the films Xanadu and
Two of a Kind.
LEONARD NIMOY, he
of the pointed ears fame, is
the son of Russian immi-
grants who settled in
Boston. Mr. Nimoy was
born in 1931 and, at 17,
made his first stage ap-
pearance in Awake and
Sing.
Mr. Nimoy served in the
U.S. Army from 1954-1956,
then found work on televi-
sion in the late 1950s.
In 1966, he was cast as
the crusty but charming
Vulcan Mr. Spock on "Star
Trek." His co-star, William
"Capt. Kirk" Shatner, also
is Jewish (see below). Mr.
Nimoy stayed with the
show until its cancellation
in 1969. He later took a
role on "Mission Impossi-
ble."
Mr. Nimoy has appeared
in numerous plays and
films of Jewish interest, in-
cluding Fiddler on the Roof
and The Man in the Glass
Booth. Earlier this year, he
starred as Mel Mermels-
tein, a survivor who fought
to prove the Holocaust
happened, in the television
film Never Forget.
In addition to starring in
the endless "Star Trek"
film series (despite Mr.
Spock's supposed death in
one of them), Mr. Nimoy
has published poetry books
including Come Be with Me
and /Am Not Spock.
ROMAN POLANSKI,
director of such films as
Rosemary's Baby and
Chinatown, has always had
a mysterious background.
Some sources suggest his
father was Jewish and his
mother Catholic. But most
researchers believe Mr.
Polanski is the son of two
Jewish parents.
According to Polanski, A
Biography author Barbara
Learning, Mr. Polanski's
parents were Ryszard
Polanski (born Ryszard
Liebling) of Poland and
Bula Katz of Russia. Their
only son, Raymond, was
born in 1933.
Mrs. Polanski was taken
to Auschwitz where she
died; Roman went with his
father to the Cracow
ghetto. In 1941, Ryszard
Polanski was sent to
Mauthausen. But first, he
managed to place his son
with a Catholic family,
where Raymond became
known as Roman Wilk. But
Roman and the family did
not get along, and Roman
spent much of the war
hiding in the countryside.
Roman and his father
were reunited after the
war. In 1947, Ryszard
remarried — this time to a
Christian, Wanda Zajac-
zkowska. Roman studied
electronics, then at 12
discovered the theater. At
14, he appeared in his first
major part, as a soldier in
Son of the Regiment.
Mr. Polanski, who says
he is not religious but has
been known to wear a Star
of David, found his big
breakthrough with his
1963 film, Knife in the
Water. His subsequent
films include Tess, Pirates,
Repulsion and The Fearless
Vampire Killers, which
starred his late wife, Sha-
ron Tate.
OTTO PREMINGER,
producer and director of
film classics including Ex-
odus and Laura, was born
to Jewish parents in 1905
in Vienna. His father,
Marc, was once attorney
general of the Austro-
Hungarian Empire.
Otto Preminger began
his theatrical career as an
actor, appearing at 17 in A
Midsummer Night's Dream
produced by fellow Jew
Max Reinhardt. By the
time he was 26, Mr. Prem-
inger had directed his first
film, Die Grosse Liebe.
Concerned by Hitler's
rise to power, Mr. Prem-
inger in 1935 came to
America, where he directed
his first play. He soon mov-
ed on to Hollywood, where
he starred as a Nazi in nu-
merous films including
Margin for Error and
Stalag 17. He worked with
producer Darryl Zanuck at
20th Century Fox, where
Mr. Preminger made what
made consider his finest
film, Laura, starring Gene
Tierney.
In 1959, Mr. Preminger
produced and directed
Anatomy of a Murder, based
on a true case and filmed in
northern Michigan. His
other films include The Man
with the Golden Arm, Ad-
vise and Consent and The
Moon Is Blue.
Mr. Preminger died of
cancer in 1986. He was 80.
DEBORAH RAFFIN
began her career as a
model and is today an ac-
tress and author.
The daughter of Trudy
Marshall of New York and
Phillip Raffin of Chicago,
Ms. Raffin made her acting
debut as Liv Ullman's
daughter in Forty Carats.
She has appeared in nu-
merous television min-
iseries, including "Lace
II," "Noble House" and
"Haywire." Among her
film credits are Once Is Not
Enough and Death Wish
III.
Ms. Raffin is active in
raising funds to benefit