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 most populous 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. Pittsfi ...

. He attended The

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

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, in a career spanning nearly five decades, starred in many silent film drama film, dramas, such as Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic ''Greed (1924 film), Greed'', along wi ...

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) was an American film and stage actress. Early life Born Diana Blanche Barrymore Blythe in New York, New York, Diana Barrymore was the daughter of actor John Barrymore and hi ...

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

Tevye Tevye the Dairyman, also translated as Tevye the Milkman (, ''Tevye der milkhiker'' ) is the fictional narrator and protagonist of a series of short stories by Sholem Aleichem, and their various adaptations, the most famous being the musical '' ...

in ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

'' 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 including Tevye on stage in ''Fiddler on the Roof'', Pseudolus on stage and o ...

'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 stage Musical theatre, musical with a book by Sam Locke (screenwriter), Sam Locke and John La Touche (lyricist), John La Touche with lyrics by La Touche and music by Jimmy Mundy, James Mundy. The show is set in the 1920s and te ...

", ''

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 " 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, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

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