After decades in the business, Abraham Sofaer is the kind of actor with a body of work built one job at a time. It began in 1931, at the age of 35. He has worked in drama more often than in any other register. There are 74 entries on the filmography, most of them supporting work in other people's stories. For much of the audience, Abraham Sofaer is The Judge from 'A Matter of Life and Death', whatever else the credits say. 'Quo Vadis' belongs on any short list of his work.
Abraham Sofaer
91 years (Sep 30, 1896 – Jan 21, 1988)Rangoon, Myanmar]Rangoon, Burma. [now Yangôn, Myanmar]
42 Movies · 32 Series
After decades in the business, Abraham Sofaer is the kind of actor with a body of work built one job at a time. It began in 1931, at the age of 35. He has worked in drama more often than in any other register. There are 74 entries on the filmography, most of them supporting work in other people's stories. For much of the audience, Abraham Sofaer is The Judge from 'A Matter of Life and Death', whatever else the credits say. 'Quo Vadis' belongs on any short list of his work.
Abraham Sofaer (October 1, 1896 – January 21, 1988) was a stage actor of Burmese-Jewish descent who became a familiar supporting player on film and television in his later years. He was born in Rangoon, Burma (now Yangon, Myanmar). Sofaer's strong features and resonant voice complemented the many exotic character parts he played. He began his acting career on the London stage in 1921, but soon was alternating between London and Broadway. By the 1930s, he was appearing in both British and American films. Among his more prominent performances were the dual role of the Judge and Surgeon in Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and St. Paul in Quo Vadis (1951). He also appeared on television from its earliest days in the late 1930s and on radio. Although his film appearances diminished after the 1950s, he continued to have guest roles on dozens of major U.S. television series throughout the 1960s, including Star Trek ("Charlie X"), The Twilight Zone ("The Mighty Casey"), Lost in Space ("The Flaming Planet") and The Outer Limits ("Demon with a Glass Hand"), until retiring in the mid 1970s. He may be best-remembered for his recurring role as Hadji, the master of all genies, on I Dream of Jeannie. Sofaer married Psyche Angela Christian, with whom he had two sons and four daughters. He died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, as the result of congestive heart failure in 1988. The noted jurist of the same name is the son of one of the actor's cousins.Abraham Sofaer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.