Bev Sykes · CC BY 2.0

Originated the role of Captain von Trapp opposite Mary Martin in the first Broadway production of The Sound of Music, then years later took on Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, giving him a hand in two of musical theater's defining works. He was also a serious folk singer and guitarist who co-founded the Newport Folk Festival in 1959, and he earned an Oscar nomination for The Defiant Ones (1958). He lived in Mandatory Palestine as a teenager and later chaired the board of Partners for Zionist Israel.