The Moscow radio announced last night that Prof. Solomon Mikhoels, prominent Yiddish actor and leader of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, has died in the Soviet capital. He was 57.
Mikhoels, whose real name was Vofsky, entered the Petrograd Jewish Dramatic Studio at the age of 28, after having studied law at the University of St. Petersburg. He became a professional actor in 1919 and at the time of his death was the best known Yiddish actor in the country. He starred in many performances of classic works by Sholom Aleichem, Mendol Moicher-Sforim and other and other well-known Jewish dramatists and also played the title role in Shakespeare’s King Lear, which was given in Yiddish. He was awarded the Order of Lenin in 1931 and was a Peoples Artist of the Republic. He visited the United States in 1943, where he received enthusiastic receptions in Jewish communities throughout the country.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
