Fahrid Murray Abraham (born October 24, 1939) is an American actor. He became known during the 1980s after winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. He has appeared in many roles, both leading and supporting, in films such as All the President's Men and Scarface. He is also known for his television and theatre work.

 

Early life

Abraham was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Josephine (née Stello), a housewife, and Fahrid Abraham, an auto mechanic.His father was a Syriac who immigrated from Syria during the 1920s famine; his paternal grandfather was a chanter in the Syriac Orthodox Church.His mother, one of 14 children, was Italian American, and the daughter of an immigrant who worked in the coal mines of Western Pennsylvania.Abraham was raised in El Paso, Texas, near the Mexican border. He attended Vilas Grammar School, and graduated from El Paso High School in 1958.He was a gang member during his teenage years.He attended Texas Western College (later named University of Texas at El Paso), where he was given the best actor award by Alpha Psi Omega for his portrayal of the Indian Nocona in Comanche Eagle during the 1959–60 season. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, then studied acting under Uta Hagen in New York City. He began his acting career on the stage, debuting in a Los Angeles production of Ray Bradbury's The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit.

 

Career

Abraham made his screen debut as an usher in the George C. Scott comedy They Might Be Giants (1971). Abraham can be seen as one of the undercover police officers along with Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet's Serpico (1973), also as the bad guy in one 3rd Season episode of Kojak, he played a cab driver in the theatrical version of The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), a mechanic in the theatrical version of The Sunshine Boys (1975) and in All the President's Men (1976), as one of the police officers who arrests the Watergate burglars in the offices of the Democratic National Headquarters.

 

Until his acclaimed role in Amadeus (1984), Abraham was perhaps best known to audiences as a talking bunch of grapes in a series of television commercials for Fruit of the Loom underwear.He worked with Pacino again in the gangster film Scarface in 1983, playing drug dealer Omar Suárez.

 

Abraham won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984).

 

Immediately after Amadeus, he appeared in The Name of the Rose (1986), in which he played Bernardo Gui, nemesis to Sean Connery's William of Baskerville. His director on the film, Jean-Jacques Annaud, has described Abraham as an "egomaniac" on the set, who considered himself more important than Sean Connery, since Connery did not have an Oscar.

 

Since Amadeus, he has mainly focused on classical theatre, and has starred in many Shakespearean productions such as Othello and Richard III, as well as many other plays by the likes of Samuel Beckett and Gilbert and Sullivan. Also highlights the role Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya (for which he received an Obie Award).

 

He is also known for his roles in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite (1995), Ahdar Ru'afo in Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Gus Van Sant's Finding Forrester (2000), where he once again played nemesis to Connery.

 

Abraham has focused on stage work throughout his career, giving notable performances as Pozzo in Mike Nichols's production of Waiting for Godot, Malvolio in Twelfth Night for the New York Shakespeare Festival, and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, for the Off Broadway Theatre For A New Audience (TFANA) in March 2007, which was performed at the Duke Theatre in New York and also at The Swan Theatre, part of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He reprised this role in February 2011, when he replaced Al Pacino in the Public Theater's production. In the 1997/98 Broadway season he starred in the new chamber musical Triumph of Love opposite Betty Buckley, based on Mariveaux's classic comedy. The production did not find a large audience, running 85 performances (after its pre-opening preview period).

 

Abraham most recently made a guest appearance on the popular television series Saving Grace, on which he played an angel, Matthew and the Law & Order: Criminal Intent, on which he played Dr. Theodore Nichols, father of Det. Zach Nichols. Additionally, Abraham has worked as the primary narrator for the PBS series Nature for 32 episodes spanning 2007–2010.

 

Oscar jinx

Abraham's relatively low-profile film career subsequent to his Academy Award has been widely considered an example of the "Oscar jinx". According to film critic Leonard Maltin, professional failure following an early success is referred to in Hollywood circles as the "F. Murray Abraham syndrome".Abraham rejects this notion and once told an interviewer:

 

The Oscar is the single most important event of my career. I have dined with kings, shared equal billing with my idols, lectured at Harvard and Columbia. If this is a jinx, I'll take two.

 

In the same interview, Abraham said:

 

Even though I won the Oscar, I can still take the subway in New York, and nobody recognizes me. Some actors might find that disconcerting, but I find it refreshing.

 

Personal life

Abraham has been married to Kate Hannan since 1962; they have two children. He has taught Theater at Brooklyn College.

Filmography
Film and television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	They Might Be Giants	Clyde
1973	Serpico	Serpico's partner	Uncredited
1975	The Prisoner of Second Avenue	Taxi driver
1975	The Sunshine Boys	Car mechanic
1976	All the President's Men	Paul Leeper
1976	The Ritz	Chris
1978	The Big Fix	Eppis
1978	Madman
1983	Scarface	Omar Suárez
1984	Amadeus	Antonio Salieri	Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actor
1986	The Name of the Rose	Bernardo Gui
1986	Dream West	Abraham Lincoln
1988	Russicum – I giorni del diavolo
1989	The Favorite
1989	An Innocent Man	Virgil Cane
1989	Slipstream	Cornelius
1989	Beyond the Stars	Dr. Harry Bertram
1989	Eye of the Widow	Kharoun
1990	The Bonfire of the Vanities	D.A. Abe Weiss	Uncredited
1990	La Batalla de los Tres Reyes	Osrain
1990	Cadence	Capt. Ramon Garcia	Uncredited
1991	Mobsters	Arnold Rothstein
1991	Money	Will Scarlet
1991	By the Sword	Max Suba
1993	Last Action Hero	Detective John Practice
1993	Journey To The Center Of The Earth	Professor Harlech
1993	Sweet Killing	Zargo
1993	Through an Open Window	Narrator	Short film
1993	National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon	Dr. Harold Leacher
1994	Nostradamus	Scalinger
1994	Surviving the Game	Wolfe Sr.
1994	L’Affaire Lucien Haslans
1994	Jamila	Older Seit
1994	Fresh	Chess Hustler	Uncredited
1995	Mighty Aphrodite	Leader
1995	Dillinger and Capone	Al Capone
1995	Baby Face Nelson	Al Capone
1996	Children of the Revolution	Joseph Stalin
1996	Dead Man's Walk	Captain Caleb Cobb
1997	Mimic	Dr. Gates
1997	Eruption	President Mendoza
1997	Color of Justice	Jim Sullivan
1998	Star Trek: Insurrection	Ad’har Ru’afo
1999	Excellent Cadavers	Tommaso Buscetta
1999	The All New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy in 'For Love or Mummy'	Prof. Covington
1999	Muppets From Space	Noah
2000	Finding Forrester	Prof. Robert Crawford
2001	Thir13en Ghosts	Cyrus Kristicos
2001	I Cavalieri che fecero l'impresa	Delfinello da Coverzano
2002	Joshua	Father Tardone
2002	Ticker	Airport Guru
2003	My Father, Rua Alguem 5555	Paul Minsky
2003	Piazza delle cinque lune	Entita
2003	Kingdom of David: The Saga of the Israelites	Narrator
2004	The Bridge of San Luis Rey	Viceroy of Peru
2004	Peperoni ripieni e pesci in faccia	Jeffrey
2004	Another Way of Seeing Things	Narrator
2006	The Inquiry	Nathan
2006	Quiet Flows the Don	Pantaley
2006	Il Mercante di pietre	Shahid
2006	A House Divided	Grandfather Wahid
2007	Carnera: The Walking Mountain	Leon See
2007	Come le formiche	Ruggero
2007	Blood Monkey	Professor Hamilton
2008	Shark Swarm	Bill Girdler
2009	Perestroika	Professor Gross
2009	Barbarossa	Siniscalco Barozzi
2010	I Looked in Obituaries	Braque
2010	Law & Order: Criminal Intent	Dr. Theodore Nichols	Episode: "Three-In-One"
2011	Goltzius and the Pelican Company	The Margrave of Alsace
2011	The Good Wife	Burl Preston	Episode: "Net Worth"
2011	Louie	John	Episode: "New Jersey/Airport"
2012	Louie	Excelsior	Episode: "Dad"