Maurice Schwartz

Maurice Schwartz born Avram Moishe Schwartz June 18 1890 May 10 1960 born in the Volhynia province of Ukraine then part of the Russian Empire was a stage and film actor active in the United States He founded the Yiddish Art Theatre and its associated school in 1918 in New York City and was its theatrical producer and director He also worked in Hollywood mostly as an actor in silent films but also as a film director producer and screenwriter With his successes as an actor Schwartz was also drawn to Hollywood appearing in his first silent film in 1910 He appeared in more than twenty films between 1910 and 1953 the majority were silents He also wrote produced or directed several films Among his major roles in motion pictures were in Broken Hearts 1926 Uncle Moses 1932 Tevya 1939 Mission to Moscow 1943 and as Ezra in the Biblical drama Salome 1953