Death of two Seventies icons

We are saddened by the same-day passing of two artists who lit up our youth – the Israeli actor Chaim Topol who owned the role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, and the Canadian dancer Lynn Seymour, who was groomed by Kenneth MacMillan as Fonteyn’s sucessor at Covent Garden.

Topol, who died at 87, shot to fame in the 1971 film version of the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof, displacing Zero Mostel, who dominated the stage version. Such was his force of personality that he spent much of the rest of his life playing Tevye on major stages all over the world. He appeared in other movies, including a James Bond film, and was a highly regarded illustrator in Israel, with 25 books to his credit. Although born in Tel Aviv, he was of Hasidic descent from both parents and had an unspoken empathy with his Fiddler role. In later years, he was much involved with philanthropy, notably for children with cancer.

Seymour, who died on the eve of her 84th birthday, was first taken under wing at the Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton. But it was the 1965 title role in MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet that established her in the public mind as a world star, albeit one who refused to accept the Foteyn model of being also a company star. Her relationship with Covent Garden was always independent and arm’s-length.

Through the 1970s she created roles in MacMillan’s Anastasia (1971) and Mayerling (1978), while also appearing for Ashton in Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan (1976) and as Natalia Petrovna in A Month in the Country (1976).

She went on to be artistic director of Bayerische Staatsoper Ballet from 1978 to 1980.