David Kossoff (November 24, 1919 - March 23, 2005) was a British actor. Following the death of his son Paul, a rock musician, he became an anti-drug campaigner. In 1971 he was also actively involved in the Nationwide Festival of Light protesting against the commercial exploitation of sex and violence, and advocating the teaching of Christ as the key to re-establishing moral stability in Britain.
Kossoff was born in London to Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, and started working in light entertainment on British television in the years following World War II.
His first stage appearance was at the Unity Theatre in 1942 at the age of 23. He took part in numerous plays and films. He was a Member of the Society of Artists and Designers. In addition to this, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was the youngest of three children of a poor Russian-Jewish tailor.
He married Jennie and had two sons named Paul and Simon.
His best known television role was the hen-pecked husband Alf Larkins in The Larkins first broadcast in 1958, and his role as a Jewish furniture maker in A Little Big Business. Film credits included A Kid for Two Farthings (1955), his role as Morry in The Bespoke Overcoat (1956), Freud's father in Freud (1962) with Larry Parks and Mouse on the Moon (1963) with Bernard Cribbins.
He was also well known for his story telling skills, particularly with regard to reinterpreting the Bible. His most famous book, also a television series, is The Book of Witnesses (1971) in which he turned the Gospels into a series of lively monologues.
In 1953, he played the character Lemuel "Lemmy" Barnet in the British sci-fi radio series, Journey Into Space.
Following the death in 1976 of his son Paul, guitarist with the band Free, Kossoff established the Paul Kossoff Foundation which aimed to present the realities of drug addiction to children. Kossoff spent the remainder of his life campaigning against drugs. His one-man stage performance about the death of his son, and its effect on the family, which he toured in the late 1970s and early 1980s, was both poignant and heartbreaking. He died in 2005 of liver cancer at age 85. He was cremated and interred at the Golders Green Crematorium.
His brother Alec is alive and well and not the radio broadcaster under the name of Alan Keith.
See also
List of British Jews
Footnotes
^ "Variety Club - Jewish Chronicle colour supplement "350 years"", The Jewish Chronicle (2006-12-15), pp. 28-29. Retrieved on 2006-12-24.
External links
David Kossoff at the Internet Movie Database
David Kossoff at Find A Grave
Persondata
NAME
Kossoff, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH
November 24, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH
London
DATE OF DEATH
March 23, 2005
PLACE OF DEATH
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kossoff"
Categories: 1919 births | 2005 deaths | Converts from Judaism to Christianity | Deaths from liver cancer | English film actors | English Jews | English stage actors | English television actors | People from London | English people of Russian descent | Jewish Christians
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