Maurice Schwartz
| Maurice Schwartz | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Avram Moishe Schwartz June 15, 1889 Sudlekov, |
| Died | May 10, 1960 (aged 70) |
| Occupation | Actor, film director, film producer, theatrical producer, screenwriter and theatre director |
| Years active | 1910–53 (film) |
| Spouse(s) | 1) Eva Rafalo; divorced. 2) Anna Bordofsky |
| Children | adopted Moses and Fannie Englander, 1947 |
Maurice Schwartz, born Avram Moishe Schwartz (June 15, 1889 – May 10, 1960), born Galicia (then part of the Austrian Empire), was a stage and film actor active in the United States. He founded the Yiddish Art Theatre and its associated school in 1918 in New York City and was its theatrical producer and director. He also worked in Hollywood, mostly as an actor in silent films but also as a film director, producer, and screenwriter.
Schwartz was born Avram Moishe Schwartz in Sudlekov, in Austrian Galicia, to Isaac, a grain dealer, and his wife Rose Schwartz, a Jewish family. Moishe was the oldest of three boys among the six siblings, and had three older sisters. Like many similar families, the Schwartzes immigrated to the United States in stages. In 1898 Isaac Schwartz emigrated with his three teen-aged daughters, so they could all work to get started in New York and earn money for passage for Rose and their three young sons. The following year he sent tickets for his wife and the boys. They got as far as Liverpool, where they were to sail for the US, but got separated and Rose was forced to leave without Moishe. Without any English, he made his way to London, where he lived for two years, surviving with the help of strangers. His father located him in 1901, and they traveled together to New York when Moishe was twelve.
Upon rejoining his family in New York City's Lower East Side, Schwartz took the first name of Morris. His father enrolled him in the Baron de Hirsch school, founded to teach Jewish immigrants. After school he worked in his father's small factory recycling rags for the clothing industry. When an uncle introduced him to Yiddish theatre, he was captivated. At that time groups of boys and young men were partisans of different theatres and actors. Schwartz, who admired the actors David Kessler and Jacob Adler, began reading widely, especially classic plays by such authors as William Shakespeare and Henrik Ibsen.
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