Theodore Bikel is one of the most versatile and respected actors and performers of his generation. A master of languages, dialects and accents, he has played every sort of film villain and semi-bad guy imaginable, and always adds depth, dimension and even sympathy to characters that would end up as cardboard cutouts in the hands of lesser actors. His memorable supporting roles include a German naval officer in The African Queen (1951), the king of Serbia in Moulin Rouge (1952) and a German submarine officer in The Enemy Below (1957). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in The Defiant Ones (1958). Equally at home on the stage, Bikel is remembered for creating the role of Captain Von Trapp in the original Broadway cast of "The Sound of Music" opposite Mary Martin. He also appeared on stage in "Tonight in Samarkand", "The Lark" and "The Rope Dancers". Bikel is fluent in more than half a dozen European and Middle Eastern languages, and sings folk songs in nearly 20 languages, skillfully accompanying himself on guitar, mandolin, balalaika and harmonica. He was a regular on the early 1960s TV show Hootenanny (1963), a weekly cavalcade of folk music. Over the years he has performed on college campuses and in concert halls all over the country, and has recorded a number of record albums of folk music from around the world.
生于明尼苏达州贝来肯，早期曾做过牙科护士和摄影模特儿。1941年被选中出演影片《不法之徒》(旧译《双枪太保》)中一名妖艳的女子，由此开始其银幕表演生涯。此片1943年曾短暂上映，引起轩然大波，1950年1月起遭到禁映。之后饰演一些玩世不恭的性格角色。1971年主演百老汇音乐剧《交际》。目前仍在一些影视片中断续出现。其主要影片还有《小寡妇》、《脂粉双枪侠》、《拉斯维加斯的故事》、《法国线条》、《火狐》、《热血》、《琥珀还要暗淡》等。
