David Hurst (born Heinrich Theodor Hirsch on 6 May 1926) is a British-German actor. He is best known for Hello, Dolly as Rudolph the headwaiter.

Biography

Early life and career
Hurst grew up in a family of actors. As a Jewish child living in Nazi Germany, he faced persecution from the Nazi regime. After the pogroms of Kristallnacht, British-Jewish citizens offered to bear the government expenses for the rescue of Jewish children from Germany and Austria. He was one of the thousands of children in 1938 relocated with the Kindertransport in the United Kingdom. At the time of leaving his mother, he was 12 years old. He never saw her again.

Relocated to a manor in Northern Ireland, he lived with other young emigrants in the care of a family of an estate manager. His first stage experience was gained in Belfast at a repertory theatre, where he also changed his name from Heinrich Hirsch to David Hurst. During World War II he joined the army, but because of his German background he was assigned to ENSA where he performed as an actor and a comedian.

His first film role was as Wolfgang Winkel in The Perfect Woman (1949), a role Hurst had previously played in the West End to critical praise. He went on to appear in many British films of the 1950s.


United States
In 1957, Hurst moved the United States. He spent most of his time in California, but often performed on Broadway.He created the role of Merlin in the original Broadway production of Camelot opposite Richard Burton .

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s he played in film, television, and theatre. In 1959 he received the Clarence Derwent Award and in 1964, he was awarded the Obie Award from The Village Voice for his off-Broadway performance in A Month in the Country.

He performed in the film version of Hello, Dolly (1969) as Rudolph the headwaiter alongside Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau. This has been his biggest role to date, and his most recognizable in America. He also had roles in the films Kelly's Heroes (1970) and The Boys From Brazil (1978). Hurst also appeared in numerous TV series including Mission: Impossible, Serpico and Star Trek.

Throughout his career he worked as a visiting professor at Yale, Boston University and Carnegie Mellon.


Return to Germany
In the 1980s he appeared in several German-American co-productions, and visited his half-brother Wolfgang Heinz in East Berlin. Hurst decided to remain in Germany, and worked in Vienna and Berlin with fellow erstwhile emigrant (and Actors Studio compadre), theatre director George Tabori. From 1991 Hurst worked at the Burgtheater, Vienna, eventually returning to live in Berlin in 2000, when he retired from acting.