Zero Mostel - Last Years

Last Years

In his last decade, Mostel showed little enthusiasm for artistic theatrical progress. Rather than choosing roles that would bring him critical acclaim or that he wanted to do, he seemed to be available for any role that paid well. The result was a succession of movies for which, for the first time since he had established himself as a performer, reviews were mixed at best. Such endeavors were The Great Bank Robbery, The Angel Levine, Once Upon a Scoundrel, and Mastermind. This caused the devaluation of his star power: once a top-billing actor, he now had to make do with featured billing, and his appearance in a movie or play no longer guaranteed success.

There have been a few exceptions, however: a successful revival tour of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, the movie version of Rhinoceros, The Front (where he played Hecky Brown, a blacklisted performer whose story bears a similarity to Mostel's own, and for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor), and theatrical revivals of Fiddler and Ulysses in Nighttown. He also made memorable appearances in children's shows such as Sesame Street, The Electric Company (for which he performed the Spellbinder in the Letterman cartoons), and gave voice to the boisterous seagull Kehaar in the animated film Watership Down. He also appeared as a guest star during Season 2 of The Muppet Show, filmed during the summer of 1977. Mostel would have the distinction of being the only guest in the show's history to die before his appearance was broadcast.