MOSCOVITCH, MAURICE

MOSCOVITCH, MAURICE (1871–1940), actor-manager. Born in Odessa, Moscovitch won a reputation there on the Yiddish- and English-speaking stage. He acted in London with david kessler and reached New York with jacob adler 's company in 1890. Forming his own troupe, he toured the Americas and Europe in Jewish classics and Yiddish versions of Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Strindberg. He appeared in English in Manchester, England, in 1919, as Shylock, giving a controversial interpretation. Later he toured South Africa and Australia, and appeared in films, including Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940), just before his death.