Men Of Character Character Actors
Abraham Sofaer
Elephant Walk/ Appohamy
Quo Vadis/ Paul
Bhowani Junction/ Surabhai
Omar Khayyam/ Tutish
Per Quinlan's Character Stars:
Dark haired, long faced Burmese actor of austere aspect, often in sinister ( sometime bearded) roles.
Abraham Sofaer was born at Rangoon, Burma in 19896 of Burmese-Jewish parents.
Sofaer's early experience was on the stage between London and Broadway playing in Shakespearean and other classic plays
Mr. Sofaer made his film debut in 1931 and settled in Hollywood where he would continue in films and television in exotic roles.
Some of the film roles of Abraham Sofaer were:
The Dreyfus Case (1931) as Dubois
Stamboul (1931) as Mahmed Pasha
The House Opposite (1932) As Fahmy
Insult (1932) as Ali Ben Achmed
The Flying Squad (1932) as Li Yoseph
The Flag Lieutenant (1932) as Meheti Salos
Fate (1933) as Holy Man
Trouble (1933) as Ali
The Wandering Jew (1933) as Zapportas
Little Miss Nobody (1933) as Mr. Beal
High Finance (1933) as Myers
Ask Baccles (1933) as Baki
Oh No Doctor (1934) as Skelton
The Admiral's Secret (1934) as Don Pablo y Gonzales
The Private Life Of Don Juan (1934) as Street Bookseller
Things To Come (1934) as The Jew
The House Of The Spaniard ( 1936) as Vidal
Rembrandt (1936) as Dr. Menasseh
Caesar's Friend (1939-TV) as Annas
The Deacon And The Jewess (1939) as Benedict The Pointer, Jew Of Oxford
The Great Adventure (1939-TV) as Ebag
A Voice In The Night (1941) as Heini
The Prime Minister (1941) as Turkish Ambassador
Crook's Tour (1941) as Ali
The Queen Of Spades (1946-TV) as Tchekalinsky
The Man With The Cloak Full Of Holes (1946) as Luis Santangei
Stairway To Heaven (1946) as The Judge
Caesar's Friend (1947) as Calaphas, High Priest
Dual Alibi (1947) as French Judge
The Merchant Of Venice (1947-TV) as Shylock
Trilby (1947-TV) as Svengali
The Ghosts Of Berkeley Square (1947) as Benjamin Disraeli
Calling Paul Temple (1948) as Dr. Kohima
Tilly Of Bloomsbury (1948-TV) as Mehta Ram
Counsellor At Law (1949-TV) as George Simon
A Man's House (1949-TV) as Salathiel
The Gentle People (1949-TV) as Jonah Goodman
Christopher Columbus (1949) as Luis de Santangel
The Squeaker (1949-TV) as Lew Friedman
Dick Whittington (1949-TV) as Sultan
Cairo Road (1950) as Commandant
Pandora And The Flying Dutchman (1951) as Judge
Quo Vadis (1951) as Paul
Judgment Deferred ( 1952) as Chancellor
Music At Night (1952-TV) as Nicholas Lengel
His Majesty O'Keefe (1954) as Fatunak, The Medicine Man
The Naked Jungle (1954) as Incacha
Elephant Walk (1954) as Appuhamy
Out Of The Clouds (1955) as The Indian
Bhowani Junction (1956) as Surabhai
The First Texan (1956) as Don Carlos
Omar Khayyam (1957) as Tutush
The Story Of Mankind (1957) as The Indian Chief
The Sad Sack (1957) as Hassim
Song Without End (1960) as Emissary In Rome
Hitler (1962) as Morris Kaplan
Taras Bulba (1962) as Abbot
Captain Sinbad (1963) as Galgo
Twice Told Tales (1963) as Professor Baglioni
4 For Texas (1963) as Pulaski
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) as Joseph Of Arimathaea
Journey To The Center Of Time (1967) as Dr. Gordon
Head (1968) as Swami
Che! (1969) as Pablo Rojas
Justine (1969) as Proprietor
Chisum (1970) as Chief White Buffalo
Mr. Sofaer was also active on television appearing in such programs as Four Star Playhouse, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Sea Hunt, Riverboat, Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Boris Karloff's Thriller, Gunsmoke, Maverick, Death Valley Days, Perry Mason, The Man From UNCLE, The Outer Limits, Ben Casey, The Girl From UNCLE, The Time Tunnel, Lost In Space, Kolchak The Night Stalker, Ironside, Daniel Boone and Star Trek among many others.
He was married to psychic Angela Christian and the couple had two sons and four daughters.
Abraham Sofaer passed away in 1988 from congestive heart failure at age 91.
I enjoyed this actor in the films Elephant Walk, Quo Vadis, The Naked Jungle, His Majesty O'Keefe, Taras Bulba, Captain Sinbad and Bhowani Junction,
Louie The Movie Buff