SOFAER, ABRAHAM

SOFAER, ABRAHAM (1896–1988), British actor. Born in Rangoon, Burma, Sofaer was a schoolmaster before going on the London stage in 1921. He toured in Shakespeare for four years and subsequently appeared in Jewish roles such as Cohen in G.B. Stern's The Matriarch (London and New York, 1930), the title role in Schnitzler's Professor Bernhardi (1936), Disraeli in Laurence Housman's Victoria Regina (which he performed 750 times in the U.S. starting in 1936), and Samson in Milton's Samson Agonistes (1951). In the 1930s and 1940s Sofaer appeared in many British films and, from about 1950 until 1970, in more than 20 Hollywood films, always in supporting roles.