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Although I am deeply grateful to a great many people, I forgo the temptation of naming them for fear that I might slight any by omission.

Theodore Bikel

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Theodore Bikel
Age: 91 †
Born: 1924
Born: May 2
Died: 2015
Died: July 21
Actor
Businessperson
Film Actor
Musician
Politician
Stage Actor
Television Actor
Trade Unionist
Vienna
Austria
Theodore Meir Bikel
People
Temptation
Deeply
Although
Grateful
Fear
Forgo
Might
Omission
Many
Naming
Great
Slight

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Retiring' - within that word is 'tiring,' and I'm not tired. I don't believe in retirement, really.
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I know for certain of only one commandment, one obligation, that God imposes upon us, and that is to be compassionate toward other human beings.
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For I firmly believe that Jewish life, indeed any communal life, can only be organized according to democratic principles.
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On the stage you're there, it's live. There's a beginning, a middle, an end. When something is funny you hear it right away.
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I am a Zionist, an ardent supporter of Israel, its defender when I deem Israel to be right and its critic when I deem it to be wrong.
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I prefer to choose which traditions to keep and which to let go.
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I am a universalist, passionately devoted to the cause of equality within the human family.
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The play is always fresh to me. It's not the audience's fault that I've said the words before.
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Must we be put to shame by much smaller and poorer countries, by Ireland, France, Austria or Sweden, who have understood that a nation's support of its arts is a matter of both national pride and cultural survival?
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I do prefer the stage. It's really the granddaddy of them all.
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If I have one vanity wish, it would be to direct. It's the only thing I haven't done yet that I would like to.
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John Huston was the kind of director that totally left you alone. Not every actor always does it right, every time, but most of the time he was re-directing someone. He was making tight adjustments, and not even in terms of interpretation because he knew that by the time that the character had been filmed... well, he got it right when he cast you.
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In my world, history comes down to language and art.
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I am determined to give the Yiddish language a fighting chance to survive.
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We Jews have a special attachment to the Book. The study of page after page in tomes yellowing with age was obligatory.
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But there is a difference here: When Jewish children are murdered, Arabs celebrate the deed. The death of an Arab child is no cause for celebration in Israel.
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No heirloom of humankind captures the past as do art and language.
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An actor is supposed to emulate life. Instead, alas, many are imitating other actors. You don't fashion your knowledge of theatre or your approach to a role on the basis of what other actors have done. This kind of thinking is a great danger, especially in dealing with TV producers who frequently say things like, 'This is a Sean Connery type.'
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I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew.
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Every actor wants to direct and produce, but I made a conscious decision when I was in college to understand the 'business' of 'show business.'
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