- Born
- Died
- Birth nameTheodore Gottlieb
- Theodore Gottlieb was born on November 11, 1906 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was an actor and writer, known for The 'Burbs (1989), The Last Unicorn (1982) and Nocturna (1979). He was married to Elizabeth Kitty Schein. He died on April 5, 2001 in New York City, New York, USA.
- SpouseElizabeth Kitty Schein(April 15, 1939 - May 28, 1947) (divorced, 1 child)
- ChildrenThomas Harry Gottlieb (Lonner)
- Tragic, absurdist, enraged, often Nietzschean-themed bits.
- He and Peter Woodthorpe have both played Gollum twice. Theodore played the role in The Hobbit (1977), while Woodthorpe played him in The Lord of the Rings (1978). This incomplete adaptation sparked two other adaptations: the animated The Return of the King (1980), in which Theodore reprised the role; and the BBC radio production, in which Woodthorpe reprised the role. Theodore played the role opposite Orson Bean, who played Frodo, but had previously played Bilbo in The Hobbit. Woodthorpe played the role opposite Ian Holm, who played Frodo, and would go on to play Bilbo in Peter Jackson's films.
- Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy", by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 66-67. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387
- Admitted hebephile.
- [from an interview done in 1998] I'm in perpetual pain. I have arthritis, you know and, uh, I don't want to really go into it. People are not interested in my woes. They say old people talk about nothing but what ails them, you know. I lost many friends by talking incessantly about my pain. They're not interested in my pain.
- [from an interview in 1998] If you said to me, "Theodore, we pay you $20,000 and you perform at Town Hall." I might be able to do it and afterwards, simply drop dead. The alternative is to lie safely in my bed and don't perform and have to wait four or five years in utter loneliness and in great pain and confusion. So I might take the risk to do it once and say, "O.K., so I die after the show." But it's better to have the applause and die than to lie here for the next five years and end up in a nursing home forever and ever and ever.
- Women here get away with murder. In Europe we keep them pregnant and barefooted and let them eat under the table!
- You are asking dangerous questions, which provokes dangerous answers!
- I'm a controversial figure, people either hate me or despise me...
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