Rocky Mountain Telegram
By David Lancashire
January 14, 1973
EDITOR’S NOTE – One of the Apaches who tries to do in Gregory Peck in the Western “Billy Two Hats” has the unlikely name of Zev Berlinsky. Yup, now that the Italian movie cowboys are becoming successful, it’s time for Jewish Indians.
EILAT, Israel (AP) – First it was Italian movie cowboys – now it’s Jewish Indians.
Some of the
renegade Apaches who try to kill Gregory Peck in the Western “Billy Two Hats”
are genuine American Indian actors, but another bears the unlikely the name of
Zev Berlinsky, one of Israel’s best-known performers.
“I have acted
in Hebrew, German, Polish, Russian and Arabic,” said Berlinsky, his face
hideous with makeup scars and a necklace of teeth dangling from his throat,
“and now I am speaking Apache – at least I think it’s Apache.
“If they let
me speak my own version it would sound more authentic. I once made up
counterfeit Chinese dialogue for an entire play and some Chinese diplomats came
backstage and said it was the best they ever heard.”
Berlinsky was
talking on the set of the first big Western movie shot in Israel. In a
sun-glazed gully of red rock in the desert near Eilat, Gregory Peck was
sprawled beneath a wagon ducking bullets and croaking “save the water” as the
Indians attacked.
“Mr.
Berlinsky,” said Peck when the shooting stopped, “is the most convincing Indian
of them all.”
The Jewish
actor hadn’t ridden a horse since childhood when “Billy Two Hats” began, but he
had 44 years of experience in hundreds of roles – including one previous Indian
part for German television.
Berlinsky came
to Israel from Poland as a child, went on the stage at 12 and studied at the
Stadts Theater School in Berlin in 1931. Now 56, he has run two theaters of his
own, made a variety of films and recently starred in “Fifty-Fifty,” an Israeli
entry for the Academy Award. Also in the picture was Assaf Dayan, the actor son
of Defense Minister Moshe Dyan.
“I wanted this
Indian role because I wanted to work with Gregory Peck,” said the Israeli
veteran. “He is a real actor. A beautiful man.”
Berlinsky the
Apache also owns a popular Tel Aviv night club and the Aladdin café.
“Billy Two
Hats” with Desi Arnaz Jr. playing a half-breed who gives the picture its name,
is being made by Norman Jewison’s Algonquin Films for United Artists.
“People talk
about spaghetti Westerns begin made in Italy, but we don’t want them calling
this a kosher Western or something like that just because we are shooting it in
Israel,” said a producer’s aide. “It is an authentic Western film.”
Sitting near a
stuffed dead horse as a couple of curious Arabs wandered in from the desert to
watch, Peck said, “From the scenery, it might as well be Arizona. The work is
the same as anywhere else.
“But there’s a
sense of fun and adventure being in Israel – with jets raiding Syria and wild
camels running around, it’s certainly different.”
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