| F. Murray Abraham | |
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F. Murray Abraham, 2008 |
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| Born | Fahrid Murray Abraham October 24, 1939 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Other names | Frank Murray Abraham |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Spouse | Kate Hannan (m. 1962–present) |
Fahrid Murray Abraham (born October 24, 1939)[1] is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface. He is also known for his television and theatre work.
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Abraham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Josephine (née Stello), a housewife, and Fahrid Abraham, an auto mechanic.[1][2] His father was an Assyrian/Syriac Christian[3] who immigrated from Syria during the 1920s famine; his paternal grandfather was a chanter in the Syriac Orthodox Church.[1] His mother, one of 14 children, was Italian American, and the daughter of an immigrant who worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania.[1] Abraham was raised in El Paso, Texas, near the Mexican border. He attended Vilas Grammar School, and graduated from El Paso High School in 1958.[4] He was a gang member during his teenage years.[1] He attended Texas Western College (later named University of Texas at El Paso), where he was given the best actor award by Alpha Psi Omega for his portrayal of the Indian Nocona in Comanche Eagle during the 1959-60 season. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, then studied acting under Uta Hagen in New York City. He began his acting career on the stage, debuting in a Los Angeles production of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.
Abraham made his screen debut as an usher in the George C. Scott comedy They Might Be Giants (1971). Abraham can be seen as one of the undercover police officers along with Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet's Serpico (1973), also as the bad guy in one 3rd Season episode of Kojak, he played a cab driver in the theatrical version of The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), a mechanic in the theatrical version of The Sunshine Boys (1975) and in All the President's Men (1976), as one of the police officers who arrests the Watergate burglars in the offices of the Democratic National Headquarters.
Until his acclaimed role in Amadeus (1984), Abraham was perhaps best known to audiences as a talking bunch of grapes in a series of television commercials for Fruit of the Loom underwear.[5] He worked with Pacino again in the gangster film Scarface in 1983, playing drug dealer Omar Suárez.
Abraham won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984).
Immediately after Amadeus, he appeared in The Name of the Rose (1986), in which he played Bernardo Gui, nemesis to Sean Connery's William of Baskerville. His director on the film, Jean-Jacques Annaud, has described Abraham as an "egomaniac" on the set, who considered himself more important than Sean Connery, since Connery did not have an Oscar.[6]
Since Amadeus, he has mainly focused on classical theatre, and has starred in many Shakespearean productions such as Othello and Richard III, as well as many other plays by the likes of Samuel Beckett and Gilbert and Sullivan. Also highlights the role Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (for which he received an Obie Award).
He is also known for his roles in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Ahdar Ru'afo in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester (2000), where he once again played nemesis to Connery.
Abraham has focused on stage work throughout his career, giving notable performances as Pozzo in Mike Nichols's production of Waiting for Godot, Malvolio in Twelfth Night for the New York Shakespeare Festival, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, for the Off Broadway Theatre For A New Audience (TFANA) in March 2007, which was performed at the Duke Theatre in New York and also at The Swan Theatre, part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He reprised this role in February 2011, when he replaced Al Pacino in the Public Theater's production. In the 1997/98 Broadway season he starred in the new chamber musical Triumph of Love opposite Betty Buckley, based on Mariveaux's classic comedy. The production did not find a large audience, running 85 performances (after its pre-opening preview period).[7]
Abraham most recently made a guest appearance on the popular television series Saving Grace, on which he played an angel, Matthew and the Law & Order: Criminal Intent, on which he played Dr. Theodore Nichols, father of Det. Zach Nichols. Additionally, Abraham has worked as the primary narrator for the PBS series Nature for 32 episodes spanning 2007-2010.[8]
Abraham's relatively low-profile film career subsequent to his Academy Award has been widely considered an example of the "Oscar jinx". According to film critic Leonard Maltin, professional failure following an early success is referred to in Hollywood circles as the "F. Murray Abraham syndrome".[9] Abraham rejects this notion and once told an interviewer:
The Oscar is the single most important event of my career. I have dined with kings, shared equal billing with my idols, lectured at Harvard and Columbia. If this is a jinx, I'll take two.
In the same interview, Abraham said:
Even though I won the Oscar, I can still take the subway in New York, and nobody recognizes me. Some actors might find that disconcerting, but I find it refreshing.
Abraham has been married to Kate Hannan since 1962; they have two children.[10] He taught Theater at Brooklyn College.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | They Might Be Giants | Clyde the Usher | |
| 1973 | Serpico | Serpico's partner | Uncredited |
| 1975 | The Prisoner of Second Avenue | Taxi Driver | |
| 1975 | The Sunshine Boys | Car Mechanic | |
| 1976 | All the President's Men | Paul Leeper | |
| The Ritz | Chris | ||
| 1978 | The Big Fix | Eppis | |
| Madman | |||
| 1983 | Scarface | Omar Suárez | |
| 1984 | Amadeus | Antonio Salieri | Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor |
| 1986 | The Name of the Rose | Bernardo Gui | |
| 1988 | Russicum - I giorni del diavolo | aka The Third Solution | |
| 1989 | The Favorite | Abdul Hamid | aka Intimate Power |
| An Innocent Man | Virgil Cane | ||
| Slipstream | Cornelius (at Museum) | ||
| Beyond the Stars | Dr. Harry Bertram, the Whale Man | ||
| Eye of the Widow | Kharoun | ||
| 1990 | The Bonfire of the Vanities | D.A. Abe Weiss | uncredited |
| La Batalla de los Tres Reyes | Osrain | aka Drums of Fire, English title | |
| Cadence | Capt. Ramon Garcia | Uncredited | |
| 1991 | Mobsters | Arnold Rothstein | |
| Money | Will Scarlet | ||
| By the Sword | Max Suba | ||
| 1993 | Last Action Hero | As Himself (playing "Det. John Practice") | |
| Journey To The Center Of The Earth | Professor Harlech | aka Journey To The Inner World- | |
| Sweet Killing | Zargo | ||
| Through an Open Window | Narrator | (Short) | |
| National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon | Dr. Harold Leacher | ||
| 1994 | Nostradamus | Scalinger | |
| Surviving the Game | Wolfe Sr. | ||
| L’Affaire Lucien Haslans | aka The Case | ||
| Jamila | Older Seit | ||
| Fresh | Chess Hustler | uncredited | |
| 1995 | Mighty Aphrodite | Leader | |
| Dillinger and Capone | Al Capone | ||
| Baby Face Nelson | Al Capone | ||
| 1996 | Children of the Revolution | Joseph Stalin | |
| 1996 | Dead Man's Walk | Captain Caleb Cobb | |
| 1997 | Mimic | Dr. Gates | |
| Eruption | President Mendoza | ||
| Color of Justice | Jim Sullivan | ||
| 1998 | Star Trek: Insurrection | Ad’har Ru’afo | |
| 1999 | Excellent Cadavers | Tommaso Buscetta | |
| The All New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy in 'For Love or Mummy' | Prof. Covington | ||
| Muppets From Space | Noah | ||
| 2000 | Finding Forrester | Prof. Robert Crawford | |
| 2001 | Thir13en Ghosts | Cyrus Kristicos | |
| I Cavalieri che fecero l'impresa | Delfinello da Coverzano | aka The Knights of the Quest USA title | |
| 2002 | Joshua | Father Tardone | |
| Ticker | Airport Guru | aka The Hire: Ticker | |
| 2003 | My Father, Rua Alguem 5555 | Paul Minsky | aka Josef Mengele – My Father |
| Piazza delle cinque lune | Entita | aka Five Moons Plaza - English title | |
| Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites | Narrator | ||
| 2004 | The Bridge of San Luis Rey | Viceroy of Peru | |
| Peperoni ripieni e pesci in faccia | Jeffrey | aka Too Much Romance... It's Time for Stuffed Peppers – USA title | |
| Another Way of Seeing Things | Narrator | ||
| 2006 | L’Inchiesta | Nathan | aka The Inquiry – English title |
| Quiet Flows the Don | Pantaley | ||
| Il Mercante di pietre | Shahid | aka The Stone Merchant – English title | |
| A House Divided | Grandfather Wahid | ||
| 2007 | Carnera: The Walking Mountain | Leon See | |
| Come le formiche | Ruggero | aka Wine and Kisses – English title | |
| Blood Monkey | Professor Hamilton | ||
| 2008 | Shark Swarm (TV) | Bill Girdler | |
| 2009 | Perestroika | Professor Gross | |
| Barbarossa | Siniscalco Barozzi | ||
| 2010 | I Looked in Obituaries | Braque | post-production |
| Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Dr. Theodore Nichols | Episode: "Three-In-One" | |
| 2011 | Goltzius and the Pelican Company | The Margrave of Alsace | |
| The Good Wife | Burl Preston | Episode: " Net Worth" | |
| Louie | John |
In July 2004, during a ceremony in Rome, he was awarded the "Premio per gli Italiani nel Mondo". This is a prize distributed by the Marzio Tremaglia foundation and the Italian government to Italian emigrants and their descendants who have distinguished themselves abroad.
In 2009 he was recognized by The Alumni Association of The College of New York City with John H. Finley Award in recognition of exemplary dedicated service to the City of New York.
In 2010 Abraham was the recipient of The Sir John Gielgud Award (Theatre) for that year.[12]
It is also Honorary doctor from the Rider College in Lawrenceville, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States.
In The Simpsons episode "Homer Simpson in: "Kidney Trouble"", Homer rushes home to see Abraham on Inside the Actors Studio and does not stop for a bathroom break, consequently costing his father his kidneys.
In the season six episode of Monk "Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan." Abraham is an object of obsession of the character Marci Maven.
In January 2010, Abraham was the on-the-scene hero of a real-life crime scene at the Classic Stage Company in New York, when he traded blows with a thief in the dressing room area during a public rehearsal.[13]
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