KOSSOFF, DAVID

KOSSOFF, DAVID (1919–2005), British actor. Kossoff started as an interior designer and studied for the stage privately. He performed in shows in the London shelters and for the troops during World War II. His first professional appearance was at the Unity Theater, London. Kossoff then became a film actor, typically playing stage Central Europeans, such as Professor Kokinitz in The Mouse That Roared (1959). He subsequently gained a reputation for his manner of telling, with modern emphasis, Bible stories for children on radio and television. He played in The Bespoke Overcoat (1953), Tobias and the Angel (1953), and The World of Sholem Aleichem (1955). Kossoff became a well-known anti-drug campaigner after a son died of drug abuse. (William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)