Zero Mostel Biography

Fast Facts

• Wanted to be a painter as a child and worked as an artist during the Depression (he continued painting throughout his life)
• Worked as a longshoreman, a factory worker and a miner before making it in show business
• Worked as a museum tour guide, and his improvisations as a guide led to work as a nightclub comedian, which in turn led to early appearances on Broadway
• Was given the nickname Zero by a nightclub press agent, because he was a man who "started from nothing
• " Briefly served in the U
• S
• Army in 1943
• Was blacklisted in Hollywood after he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1951
• Was hit by a bus in 1960 and severely injured his left leg
• Was the first performer to win Tonys in both the musical and dramatic acting categories
• Was known for frequently ad-libbing on stage