‘Picket Fences’ Star Fyvush Finkel Dies at 93
Beloved character actor Fyvush Finkel passed away on Aug. 14 after months of reportedly struggling with heart problems.
He was born Philip Finkel in Brownsville, Brooklyn, in 1922, and by the time he was 9 years old, he was performing onstage in Yiddish plays and changed his first name to Fyvush. His big Hollywood break came when David E. Kelley cast him as cantankerous attorney Douglas Wambach in the 1992 hit show Picket Fences, a role for which Finkel received an Emmy Award for best supporting actor in a drama series.
After learning of his passing, Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani tweeted: “R.I.P. Fyvush Finkel. Picket Fences was huge in Pakistan. We loved it. No joke. Today is Pakistan’s Independence Day. There is a plan.”
Finkel later played school teacher Harvey Lipschultz in another successful David E. Kelley series, Boston Public. While Finkel appeared in several movies and TV shows, his true passion was the theater stage, and he is one of the few people to have earned a star on the Yiddish Theater Walk of Fame.
Zach Linder summed it up well when he tweeted: “Fyvush Finkel died today. One of the last living legends of Yiddish theater, and probably the last famous Fyvush.”
Phillip “Fyvush” Finkel was 93.
See James Corden’s tribute to TV legend Garry Marshall:
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