Tenen Holtz


Tenen Holtz was an American actor. He appeared in nearly 60 films between 1926 and 1961.

Biography

Holtz was born in Ozeran, Volhynia district, now in Ukraine, and came to the United States when he was seven years old. While he was in elementary school, he began working, but he pursued studies in evening high school to improve his language abilities. Jacob Pavlovich Adler observed Holtz performing in a school production and not only gave him a permanent pass to Adler's playhouse but also allowed him to attend rehearsals.
His first appearance in amateur Yiddish theatre plays occurred in 1903 in the staged readings of the works of Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem. In July 1926, he went to California "to see what all these pictures were about", he said. His film debut came in Upstage.
Holtz's final television appearance was as murder victim Otto Joseph in the 1964 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Arrogant Arsonist". He died in Los Angeles County, California in 1971, aged 84.
Holtz married Ethel Fishman, and they had a daughter, Naomi, who married Nelson Riddle.

Selected filmography

Upstage as Sam DavisExit Smiling as Tod PowellLong Pants as Minor Role The Demi-Bride as GastonFrisco Sally Levy as Isaac Solomon LapidowitzThe Trail of '98 as Mr. BulkeyDetectives as OrloffThe Cardboard Lover as ArgineOld Gray Hoss as Man with Soot on Face Bringing Up Father as Ginsberg FeitelbaumNoisy Noises as Man practicing with fiddleThe Duke Steps Out as Jake, Duke's ManagerHouse of Horror as BrownThree Live Ghosts as Crockery ManLilies of the Field as PaymasterThe Melody Man as GustavThe Woman Racket as BenCaught Cheating Three Girls Lost as Photographer Faithless as Diner Proprietor Whistling in the Dark as Herman LefkovitzMoney Means Nothing as Mr. SilvermanBritish Agent as LeninCipher Bureau as Simon HerrickAlfred Hitchcock Presents as Sol DankersPerry Mason Season 6, Episode 1: "The Case of the Bogus Books" as Mr. GilfainThe Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Druggist