Abraham Sofaer

Abraham Isaac Sofaer (1 October 1896 – 21 January 1988) was a Burmese-born British actor who began his career on stage and became a familiar supporting player in film and on television in his later years.

Life and career

Although Sofaer was born in Rangoon, Burma (then part of the British Empire),^[1] he was descended from Baghdadi Jews from India.^{[citation needed]}

The son of a very successful merchant, Isaac Sofaer (who established the Sofaer Building, Rangoon, which still stands today), he was educated locally at the Diocesan Boys' High School.^[1] His education continued in England, and he initially worked as a school teacher in Rangoon and later in London.^[2]

He began his acting career on the London stage in 1921, but soon he was alternating between theatre productions in London and New York.^[3] He appeared in the 1933 musical He Wanted Adventure alongside Bobby Howes. In 1935, he gained widespread attention on Broadway portraying Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli in Victoria Regina.^[2][4]

During the 1930s he also began appearing in both British and American films. Among his more prominent performances were his dual role as the Judge and Surgeon in Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and as Saint Paul in Quo Vadis (1951).^[5]

He also appeared on television from its earliest days in the late 1930s and on radio, including a small part in Dorothy L. Sayers' The Man Born to Be King.^[3][6]

Although his film appearances diminished after the 1950s, he continued to have guest roles on dozens of major U.S. television series throughout the 1960s.^[7] He made three appearances on Perry Mason including as Dr. Maitland in “The Case of the Deadly Double” (1958), and as Sylvester Robey in the 1960 episode "The Case of the Crying Cherub" and his voice was featured in two episodes of Star Trek.^[8]

Other guest appearances were in Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, The Investigators, Daniel Boone, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, and The Outer Limits.^[7] He may be best remembered for his recurring role as Haji, the master of all genies, on I Dream of Jeannie and as The Swami who advises Peter Tork in the "Sauna" scene in The Monkees' 1968 film Head.^[9][10]

Death

Sofaer died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, as the result of congestive heart failure in 1988, aged 91.^[2]

Complete filmography

Selected television appearances

• Perry Mason (TV series) - "The Case of the Deadly Double" (1958) Dr. Maitland
• Zane Grey Theatre — "Mission" (1959) — Comanche Chief Alou
• The Real McCoys — "The Rainmaker" (1959)  Arapaho Chief
• Wagon Train — "The Stagecoach Story" (1959)  Antonio DeVargo
• Gunsmoke — "Kitty's Killing" (1960–1962) — Jeremiah Leech / Harvey Easter
• The Twilight Zone — "The Mighty Casey" (1960) — Dr. Stillman
• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1961) (Season 6 Episode 14: "The Changing Heart") - Ulrich Klemm
• Peter Gunn — "A Penny Saved" (1961) — Boris Petrov
• Thriller — "The Weird Tailor" (1961) — Nicolai
• Rawhide (1961) – Little Hawk in S4:E5, "The Lost Tribe"
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) (Season 1 Episode 2: "Don't Look Behind You") - Dr. MacFarlane
• The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) (Season 2 Episode 14: "Beyond the Sea of Death") - Dr. Shankara
• Outer Limits — "Demon with a glass hand" (1964) — Arch
• Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) – The Thasian in S1:E2, "Charlie X"
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. "The Brain-Killer Affair" (1965) — Mr. Gabhail Samoy, head of U.N.C.L.E. operations in Calcutta
• The Time Tunnel — "Revenge of the Gods" (1966) — Epeios
• I Dream of Jeannie — "The Birds and the Bees Bit" (1967) — Haji
• Lost in Space — "The Flaming Planet" (1968) — Sobram
• Kolchak: The Night Stalker "Horror in the Heights" (1974) — Rakshasa Hunter (final appearance)

References

External links

• Abraham Sofaer at IMDb
• Abraham Sofaer at the Internet Broadway Database
• Abraham Sofaer at Memory Alpha