Chaim Topol, the Israeli actor who played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, died Thursday (Mar. 9) in Tel Aviv at age 87.

In a statement, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Topol was “one of the greatest Israeli performers.” 

Topol began acting after he enlisted in the Israeli army force in 1953, where he joined an entertainment troupe, per The Jerusalem Post. After settling down with his wife Galia Finkelstein after the war, he began his own touring theater company. He starred in multiple Israeli productions both on stage and on the silver screen, but his breakthrough role was in the 1964 film Sallah Shabati, for which he earned his first Golden Globe Award.

It wasn’t until after this role he began playing Tevye the Dairyman in an Israeli production of Fiddler on the Roof in 1966. But he gained the most prominence for the role in the 1967 London run at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Norman Jewison, the director for the film version of the play, cast Topol in the film after seeing him perform in London.

In 1972, Topol won a Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical for his performance.

“How many people are known for one part? How many people in my profession are known worldwide? So I am not complaining,” Topol told The Associated Press in 2015 when he received the Israeli Prize for lifetime achievement.

He added, “Sometimes I am surprised when I come to China or when I come to Tokyo or when I come to France or when I come wherever and the clerk at the immigration says ‘Topol, Topol, are you Topol?’ So yes, many people saw [Fiddler] and it is not a bad thing.”

Topol played the part more than 3,500 times on stage, most recently in 2009, according to AP. He also starred in the James Bond film you For Your Eyes Only and Flash Gordon, among others.

He is survived by his wife and three children.