Maurice Schwartz
Biography
Maurice Schwartz, born Avram Moishe Schwartz (June 18, 1890 – May 10, 1960), born in the Volhynia province of Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire), was a stage and film actor active in the United States. He founded the Yiddish Art Theatre and its associated school in 1918 in New York City and was its theatrical producer and director. He also worked in Hollywood, mostly as an actor in silent films but also as a film director, producer, and screenwriter. With his successes as an actor, Schwartz was also drawn to Hollywood, appearing in his first silent film in 1910. He appeared in more than twenty films between 1910 and 1953; the majority were silents. He also wrote, produced, or directed several films. Among his major roles in motion pictures were in Broken Hearts (1926), Uncle Moses (1932), Tevya (1939), Mission to Moscow (1943), and as Ezra in the Biblical drama Salome (1953).
Known For & Full Filmography9 Titles
Movie - 1953, 2h 15m • as Ezra the King's Advisor
In the reign of emperor Tiberius, Gallilean prophet John the Baptist preaches against King Herod and Queen Herodias. The latter wants John dead, but Herod fears to harm him due to a prophecy. Enter beautiful Princess Salome, Herod's long-absent stepdaughter. Herodias sees the king's dawning lust for Salome as her means of bending the king to her will. But Salome and her lover Claudius are (contrary to Scripture) nearing conversion to the new religion. And the famous climactic dance turns out to have unexpected implications...
Movie - 1926, 2h 15m • as Benjamin Rezanov
A Jewish writer in Czarist Russia is forced to flee when the government comes after him for his "objectionable" writings. He emigrates to the US, where he settles in New York City's Lower East Side.
Movie - 1939, 2h 15m • as Tevya 'Tevye'
Tevye is a dairyman in the Russian Ukraine early in the 20th century. He lives in a cabin outside Boyberik with his wife Goldie, his widowed daughter Tseytl, her two children, and his younger daughter, the unmarried Khave. Khave is being courted by Fedya, a Christian, the son of a local government official. Tevye warns Khave against romance and marriage outside her faith, but Fedya is persuasive too. What will Khave decide, how will Tevye react, and when the Tsar initiates a pogrom, will Tevye's friends come to his defense? Can the stubborn Tevye reconcile his heart and tradition?
Movie - 1951, 2h 15m • as The Kahuna
Andre Laurence accompanies his college roommate, Tenga, back to Tenga's Polynesian island home. There, Andre becomes attracted to the native life and his friend's sister, Kalua.
Movie - 1932, 2h 15m • as Uncle Moses
Wealthy, powerful sweatshop owner falls in love with employee's teenage daughter, who feels obligated to marry him after he shares his wealth with her parents, though she actually loves a young Marxist unionizer.
Movie - 1943, 2h 15m • as Dr. Botkin
Ambassador Joseph Davies is sent by FDR to Russia to learn about the Soviet system and returns to the US as an advocate of socialism.
Movie - 1953, 2h 15m • as The Prophet Daniel
The Jews are taken from Jerusalem and made slaves by King Nebuchadnezzar. In the meantime Cyrus, king of the Persians, who has been living as a shepherd, is proclaimed king and defeats Nebuchadnezzar.
Movie - 1936, 2h 15m • as The Master
A young couple attend a masked ball before their planned (but secret) elopement. Suddenly everything goes wrong when the young woman is attacked and held hostage by a crazed attacker.
Movie - 1955, 2h 15m • as Archive Footage
Bob Monkhouse introduces the golden age of slapstick comedy.