Paul R. Lipson (December 23, 1913 - January 3, 1996) was an American stage actor.

Early life

Lipson was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Abraham Lipson and Elizabeth Richtol, and grew up in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

. He attended The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

and served in the Air Force during World War II.

Stage career

After his military service, Lipson performed in touring productions, including ''Dangerous Woman'', with

ZaSu Pitts Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...

and ''

Joan of Lorraine ''Joan of Lorraine'' is a 1946 play-within-a-play by Maxwell Anderson. Plot It is about a company of actors who stage a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc, and the effect that the story has on them. As in the musical ''Man of La Mancha'', ...

'' with

Diana Barrymore Diana Blanche Barrymore Blythe (March 3, 1921 – January 25, 1960), known professionally as Diana Barrymore, was an American film and stage actress. Early life Born Diana Blanche Barrymore Blythe in New York, New York, Diana Barrymore was t ...

. At the time of his death, he had played the role of

Tevye Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman ( yi, טבֿיה דער מילכיקער, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and various adaptations of th ...

in ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia in or around 1905. It is based on ''Tevye and his Daughters'' (or ''Tevye the ...

'' in more performances than any other actor, clocking over 2,000 performances as

Zero Mostel Samuel Joel "Zero" Mostel (February 28, 1915 – September 8, 1977) was an American actor, comedian, and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in ''Fiddler on the Roof'', Pseudolus on stage and on ...

's Broadway understudy, and later performing the lead role in his own right. Because he had appeared for some time in a Las Vegas production that played 12 performances a week instead of the eight on Broadway, by the time Fiddler became the longest-running show in 1972, he had appeared in more performances than had played on Broadway. Initially, in the 1964 production of the play, Lipson portrayed bookseller Avram. Lipson was on Broadway in "

Detective Story Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

," "Remains to Be Seen," " Carnival in Flanders," "I've Got Sixpence," "

The Vamp ''The Vamp'' is a musical comedy with music by James Mundy; lyrics by John La Touche; and a musical book by La Touche and Sam Locke which is based on a story by La Touche. The musical opened on Broadway on November 10, 1955 at the Winter Garde ...

", ''

Fiorello! ''Fiorello!'' is a musical about New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia, a reform Republican, which debuted on Broadway in 1959, and tells the story of how La Guardia took on the Tammany Hall political machine. The book is by Jerome Weidman and ...

'', and " Bells Are Ringing". His stage career spanned five decades, from his debut in 1942 in the play ''Lily of the Valley'' (credited as "Paul R. Lipson"), through the 1980s. He also made guest appearances on several television shows in the 1950s and 1960s.

Death

Lipson died in New York City on January 3, 1996, aged 82.

References

External links

Paul Lipson papers, 1932-1996
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...

1913 births 1996 deaths American male stage actors 20th-century American male actors 20th-century American singers {{US-theat-actor-stub