Leo Fuchs (May 15, 1911 â€" December 31, 1994) was a Polish-born
American actor. According to YIVO, he was born Avrum Leib Fuchs in
Warsaw; according to Joel Schechter, he was born in Lwów, Galicia,
then Poland, now called Lviv, Ukraine.Fuchs performed in many Yiddish
and English plays and movies throughout the mid-twentieth century, and
was famed as a comic, a dancer, and a coupletist. He wrote much of his
own material and toured widely.Fuchs was born into a Yiddish
theatrical family: his father, Yakov Fuchs, was a character actor; his
mother, Róża Fuchs (Ruzha Fuchs), was "a leading lady of the musical
theatre who perished in the Holocaust of the 1940s," shot dead by Nazi
Germans. He began acting (in Polish) when he was five years old, and
was praised when he performed at the Warsaw cabaret Que Pro Quo when
he was 17.His American debut was at the Second Avenue Theater in the
Yiddish Theater District in Lucky Boy with Moishe Oysher in 1929. He
moved to New York City in 1935. In his prime, he was known as "The
Yiddish Fred Astaire", appearing both on Broadway and in film. In
1936, he married fellow actor Mirele Gruber and toured with her
through Poland for a year. In 1937 he made two movies, the short I
Want to Be a Boarder (in which he sang his famous song Trouble) and I
Want to Be a Mother with Yetta Zwerling. In 1940 he starred in
Amerikaner Shadkhen (American Matchmaker). He divorced in 1941 and
later married Rebecca Richman.
American actor. According to YIVO, he was born Avrum Leib Fuchs in
Warsaw; according to Joel Schechter, he was born in Lwów, Galicia,
then Poland, now called Lviv, Ukraine.Fuchs performed in many Yiddish
and English plays and movies throughout the mid-twentieth century, and
was famed as a comic, a dancer, and a coupletist. He wrote much of his
own material and toured widely.Fuchs was born into a Yiddish
theatrical family: his father, Yakov Fuchs, was a character actor; his
mother, Róża Fuchs (Ruzha Fuchs), was "a leading lady of the musical
theatre who perished in the Holocaust of the 1940s," shot dead by Nazi
Germans. He began acting (in Polish) when he was five years old, and
was praised when he performed at the Warsaw cabaret Que Pro Quo when
he was 17.His American debut was at the Second Avenue Theater in the
Yiddish Theater District in Lucky Boy with Moishe Oysher in 1929. He
moved to New York City in 1935. In his prime, he was known as "The
Yiddish Fred Astaire", appearing both on Broadway and in film. In
1936, he married fellow actor Mirele Gruber and toured with her
through Poland for a year. In 1937 he made two movies, the short I
Want to Be a Boarder (in which he sang his famous song Trouble) and I
Want to Be a Mother with Yetta Zwerling. In 1940 he starred in
Amerikaner Shadkhen (American Matchmaker). He divorced in 1941 and
later married Rebecca Richman.
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