Topol unable to attend Fiddler 50th anniversary due to stair fall

Chaim Topol, the Israeli actor most closely associated with the role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, did not appear at the 50th celebration of the film on Sunday due to on-going health issues.

Appearing in his place, his youngest daughter Adit Topol Margalith said: “He is physically very well, but about a year ago he fell down a whole set of stairs and hit his head on the right hand side which is where you form your words. So he finds it really difficult to talk. He knows what he wants to say, but he can’t say it – so we preferred he wouldn’t be seen that way.”

The global audience of more than 4,000 was saddened by the news, despite Adit adding: “He is a happy bunny, he is having fun, walking on the beach with his son, my older brother Omer. We call them the twins as they look so much alike.”

Topol, now 86, made his screen debut in Fiddler in 1971 and continued to perform the role on stage across the world.

Adit played Chava opposite her father at the Palladium in 1994. In Israel the actor has continued to support Jordan River Village, a year-round camp in Israel’s lower Galilee for children living with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

The village was founded in parternership with the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp founded by the late Jewish actor Paul Newman who visited with Topol.