Molly
Picon] (Yiddish: מאָלי פּיקאָן; February 28, 1898 – April 5, 1992) was an American actress of
stage, screen, radio and television, as well as a lyricist and dramatic storyteller. She was
first and foremost a star in Yiddish
theatre and film, but in time, she turned to English-language
productions. Born Malka Opiekun in New York City, she was a
daughter of Polish-Jewish immigrants
Clara (née Ostrow), a wardrobe mistress, and Louis Opiekun, a shirtmaker. Opiekun
is a Polish language name
meaning "guardian" or "caretaker". Her surname was later
changed to Picon. The family relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when she was three years old. Her
career began as a child actor in
the Yiddish Theatre at
age six. In 1912, she debuted at the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia[
and became a star of the Yiddish Theatre District,
performing in plays in the District for seven years. Picon was so popular
in the 1920s, many shows had her adopted name, Molly, in their title. In 1931,
she opened the Molly Picon Theatre. Picon
appeared in many films, beginning with silent movies. Her early films were made in Europe; among the
first was the Yiddish language East and West, filmed
in Vienna in 1923, which is the earliest of her movies that
survives. The film depicts a clash of New and Old World Jewish cultures. She
plays a US-born daughter who travels with her father back to Galicia in East
Central Europe. Her husband Jacob Kalich played
one of her close relatives. Picon's most famous picture, Yidl Mitn Fidl (1936), was filmed on location in
Poland and shows her wearing male clothing throughout most of the movie. The
story concerns a girl and her father who are forced by poverty to set out on
the road as traveling musicians. For her safety, she disguises herself as a
boy, which becomes inconvenient when she falls in love with one of the other
musicians in the troupe. Another of her films, Mamele, was also shot in Poland. In
1934, Picon had a musical comedy radio show, The Molly Picon Program,
broadcast on WMCA in New York City. In 1938, she
starred another radio program on WMCA, I Give You My Life. That
program "combined music and dramatic episodes that purported to be the
story of her life." Two years later, she starred in Molly Picon's
Parade, a variety show on WMCA. Picon
made her English language debut on stage in 1940. On Broadway,
she starred in the Jerry Herman musical Milk and Honey in
1961. In 1966, she dropped out of the disastrous Chu Chem during previews in Philadelphia; the show
closed before it reached Broadway. Picon had a bit part in the 1948 film The Naked City as the woman running a news-stand and
soda fountain towards the climax of the film. Her first major Anglophonic role
in the movies was in the film version of Come Blow Your Horn (1963),
with Frank Sinatra. One of her
best-known film roles was as Yente the Matchmaker in the 1971 film adaptation of
the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof. Picon
appeared as Molly Gordon in an episode of CBS's Gomer Pyle, USMC and had a recurring role as Mrs.
Bronson in the NBC police comedy Car 54, Where Are You?.
In the comedy For Pete's Sake (1974),
she appeared as an elderly madam ("Mrs.
Cherry") who arranges a disastrous stint for Barbra Streisand on a job as a call girl.[ She later had television roles on the
soap opera Somerset and
appeared in a few episodes of The Facts of Life as
Natalie's grandmother. Picon's final role was as Roger Moore's mother in cameo appearances in the
comedies Cannonball Run and
its sequel Cannonball Run II in
1981 and 1984, respectively.