Abraham Sofaer

Abraham Isaac Sofaer (1 October 1896 – 21 January 1988) was a British actor. He began his career on stage and became a familiar supporting player in film and on television in his later years.

Early life and education Sofaer was born in Rangoon, Burma (present-day Yangon, Myanmar) — then a part of the British Empire. His father was Isaac Sofaer, a successful architect and merchant of Baghdadi Jewish origin (who established the Sofaer Building, Rangoon, which still stands today), who had emigrated to British Burma from Iraq as a child.

Soafer was educated locally at the Diocesan Boys' High School.

Career He began his acting career on the London stage in 1921, but soon he was alternating between theatre productions in London and New York.

During the 1930s he also began appearing in both British and American films. Among his more prominent performances were his dual role as the Judge and Surgeon in Powell and Pressburger's A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and as Saint Paul in Quo Vadis (1951).

He also appeared on television from its earliest days in the late 1930s and on radio, including a small part in Dorothy L. Sayers' The Man Born to Be King.

Although his film appearances diminished after the 1950s, he continued to have guest roles on dozens of major U.S. television series throughout the 1960s.

Other guest appearances were in Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, The Investigators, Daniel Boone, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space, and The Outer Limits. He may be best remembered for his recurring role as Haji, the master of all genies, on I Dream of Jeannie and as The Swami who advises Peter Tork in the "Sauna" scene in The Monkees' 1968 film Head.

Personal life Soafer was the first cousin, once removed, of American jurist Abraham David Sofaer.

Death Sofaer died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, as the result of congestive heart failure in 1988, aged 91.

Complete filmography

Dreyfus (1931) - Dubois The House Opposite (1932) - Fahmy Stamboul (1932) - Mahmed Pasha The Flying Squad (1932) - Li Yoseph Insult (1932) - Ali Ben Achmed The Flag Lieutenant (1933) - Meheti Salos Long Live the King (1933, Short) - Alexis Karma (1933) - Holy Man The Wandering Jew (1933) - Zapportas Trouble (1933) - Ali Little Miss Nobody (1933) - Mr. Beal High Finance (1933) - Myers Ask Beccles (1933) - Baki Oh No Doctor! (1934) - Skelton Nell Gwynn (1934) (uncredited) The Admiral's Secret (1934) - Don Pablo y Gonzales The Private Life of Don Juan (1934) - Street Bookseller (uncredited) Things to Come (1936) - Wadsky (uncredited) The House of the Spaniard (1936) - Vidal Rembrandt (1936) - Dr. Menasseh The Switchback (1939, TV Movie) Caesar's Friend (1939, TV Movie) - Annas The Deacon and the Jewess (1939, TV Movie) - Benedict the Pointer, Jew of Oxford The Great Adventure (1939, TV Movie) - Ebag Freedom Radio (1941) - Heini The Prime Minister (1941) - Turkish ambassador (uncredited) Crook's Tour (1941) - Ali The Queen of Spades (1946, TV Movie) - Tchekalinsky The Man with the Cloak Full of Holes (1946, TV Movie) - Luis de Santángel A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - The Judge Caesar's Friend (1947, TV Movie) - Joseph Caiaphas The Merchant of Venice (1947, TV Movie, aired on two days) - Shylock Dual Alibi (1947) - French Judge Trilby (1947, TV Movie) - Svengali The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947) - Benjamin Disraeli Dim'at Ha'Nehamah Ha'Gedolah (1947) - Corporal / Commentator: Jordan's Tale Calling Paul Temple (1948) - Dr. Kohima Tilly of Bloomsbury (1948, TV Movie) - Mehta Ram Counsellor at Law (1949, TV Movie) - George Simon A Man's House (1949, TV Movie) - Salathiel The Gentle People (1949, TV Movie) - Jonah Goodman Christopher Columbus (1949) - Luis de Santángel The Squeaker (1949, TV Movie) - Lew Friedman Dick Whittington (1949, TV Movie) - Sultan Cairo Road (1950) - Commandant Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951) - Judge Quo Vadis (1951) - Paul the Apostle Judgment Deferred (1952) - Chancellor Music at Night (1952, TV Movie) - Nicholas Lengel His Majesty O'Keefe (1954) - Fatumak, Medicine Man The Naked Jungle (1954) - Incacha Elephant Walk (1954) - Appuhamy Out of the Clouds (1955) - The Indian Bhowani Junction (1956) - Surabhai The First Texan (1956) - Don Carlos Omar Khayyam (1957) - Tutush The Story of Mankind (1957) - Indian Chief The Sad Sack (1957) - Hassim Song Without End (1960) - Emissary in Rome (uncredited) Hitler (1962) - Morris Kaplan Taras Bulba (1962) - Abbot Captain Sindbad (1963) - Galgo Twice-Told Tales (1963) - Professor Pietro Baglioni 4 for Texas (1963) - Pulaski The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) - Joseph of Arimathaea Journey to the Center of Time (1967) - Dr. 'Doc' Gordon Head (1968) - Swami Che! (1969) - Pablo Rojas Justine (1969) - Proprietor Chisum (1970) - Chief White Buffalo

Selected television appearances Perry Mason (TV series) (1958) (Season 1 Episode 24: "The Case of the Deadly Double") — Dr. Maitland Wagon Train (1958) (Season 2 Episode 7: "The Bije Wilcox Story") — Bull Man Zane Grey Theatre (1959) (Season 4 Episode 7: "Mission") — Comanche Chief Alou The Real McCoys (1959) (Season 2 Episode 21: "The Rainmaker") — Arapaho Chief Wagon Train (1959) (Season 3 Episode 1: "The Stagecoach Story") — Antonio DeVargo Gunsmoke (1960) (Season 5 Episode 24: "Kitty's Killing") — Jeremiah Leech The Twilight Zone (1960) (Season 1 Episode 35: "The Mighty Casey") — Dr. Stillman Perry Mason (TV series) (1960) (Season 3 Episode 29: "The Case of the Crying Cherub") — Sylvester Robey Thriller (1960) (Season 1 Episode 10: "The Prediction") — Gus Kostopulos Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1961) (Season 6 Episode 14: "The Changing Heart") — Ulrich Klemm Peter Gunn (1961) (Season 3 Episode 26: "A Penny Saved") — Boris Petrov Thriller (1961) (Season 2 Episode 4: "The Weird Tailor") — Nicolai Rawhide (1961) (Season 4 Episode 5: "The Lost Tribe") — Little Hawk Gunsmoke (1962) (Season 7 Episode 15: "The Do-Badder") — Harvey Easter The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) (Season 1 Episode 2: "Don't Look Behind You") — Dr. MacFarlane Perry Mason (TV series) (1963) (Season 6 Episode 18: "The Case of the Two-Faced Turn-a-Bout") — Elihu Laban The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1964) (Season 2 Episode 14: "Beyond the Sea of Death") — Dr. R.D. Shankara Outer Limits (1964) (Season 2 Episode 5: "Demon with a Glass Hand") — Arch Star Trek: The Original Series (1966) (Season 1 Episode 2: "Charlie X") — The Thasian The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1965) (Season 1 Episode 23: "The Brain-Killer Affair") — Mr. Gabhail Samoy, head of U.N.C.L.E. operations in Calcutta The Time Tunnel (1966) (Season 1 Episode 7: "Revenge of the Gods") — Epeios The Time Tunnel (1967) (Season 1 Episode 20: "The Walls of Jericho") — Father The Rat Patrol (1967) (Season 1 Episode 23: "The Holy War Raid") — Holy Man I Dream of Jeannie (1967) (Season 2 Episode 27: "There Goes the Bride") — Haji I Dream of Jeannie (1967) (Season 2 Episode 29: "The Birds and the Bees Bit") — Haji I Dream of Jeannie (1968) (Season 3 Episode 22: "Divorce, Genie Style") — Haji Star Trek: The Original Series (1968) (Season 3 Episode 6: "Spectre of the Gun") — Melkotian (voice) Lost in Space (1968) (Season 3 Episode 22: "The Flaming Planet") — Sobram Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) (Season 1 Episode 11: "Horror in the Heights") — Ali Lakshmi (final appearance)