Julian Chagrin (born February 22, 1940) is an Israeli actor, comedian, theater director and mime artist, best known as one of the tennis-playing mimes in the 1966 cult film Blowup, and as the ‘secret lemonade drinker’ in a popular advert for R. White’s Lemonade in the 1970s. In Israeli TV, hw is famous for the show The Orchestra
Chagrin was born and raised in London, England. His father Francis was a Jewish-Romanian composer and conductor and his mother Aline was a teacher from Ireland. In 1944, at the age of 4, his family evacuated with him to the city of Rugby due to the German bombing of Britain. In 1946, at the age of 6, Chagrin was sent to a boarding school from which he fled after about a year. Already as a child, he aspired to be an entertainer.
Julian Chagrin began his career as an actor and comedian in 1957, at the age of 17 and a half, when he joined comedian Vic Oliver and together the duo performed in England, Ireland and South Africa. In 1959 he went to Paris and studied pantomime there for three years with Jacques Lecoq.
He married Claude – also a mime artist and the teacher of Hanoch Rosen – in France and had three children. He then returned to London to perform in the satirical play Chaganog which was a great success at the Edinburgh Festival in 1964. The play ran all over England and also for two seasons in the West End. He then appeared in many television series, commercials, and movies, including “Passions” in 1966 directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, in which he played as a mime artist alongside his then-wife Claude, “Danger Route” (director: Seth Holt) in 1967, “The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom” in 1968 alongside Shirley McClain and John Cleese, “Alice in Wonderland” in 1972 and other productions. At the same time, he performed as a mime artist in his solo performance at two theaters in the West End. Chagrin has twice been nominated for an Academy Award for Short Film Producer – “The Concert” in 1974 and “The Morning Spider” in 1976.
Julian Chagrin and “The Orchestra”
Upon immigrating to Israel in 1977, he immediately entered into theater and television productions in Israel. In 1985 he wrote, produced, directed and starred in the comedy series “The Orchestra”, a ten-episode series that aired on Channel One. Julian Chagrin played the character of a conductor in the orchestra. For the series, Chagrin won the Golden Rose Awards in Montreux and the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.
The Orchestra is a 10-episode comedy mime and slapstick TV mini-series about a maestro and his valet. Produced by David Goldstein and Eliezer Dorot, it features the acclaimed mime comic Julian-Joy Chagrin (or simply “Julian Chagrin”) as “The Maestro”, and Sefi Rivlin (a.k.a. “Seffy” or “Sephy”) as “The Valet”. The Orchestra draws humor and parodies from the world of classical music with a unique combination of music-hall slapstick and the serious.
Later Projects
He later starred in Israeli films and international productions, including: “Sleeping Beauty,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Snow White,” alongside Isabella Rossellini, Diana Rig, and Sid Caesar. In “Camel Time” produced in 1991 in which he appeared in the role bearing his name, and in the film he goes out to look for his two children, who were lost in the Judean Desert, and on the way, he meets the Bedouin who live in the area and learns about their way of life. In 1996, he starred in the film “Who’s the Father?” Alongside his second wife Rolanda and in other productions.
Chagrin has accumulated most of his publicity in Israel as a presenter and participant in children and youth shows. He began working in this field in 1981, when he began performing with his wife Rolanda in the children’s and youth show “A Thousand Faces”, one that was running for thirty-five years, until 2016.
His breakthrough in this field was in 1989, as a character in the children’s show “Mesibat Gan” (Garden Party), directed by Yaron London and Rivka Michaeli. The show aired until the end of 1994, during which time Chagrin acquired his status as a favorite character of Israeli children, characterized, among other things, by T-shirts with a print of Winnie the Pooh that he used to wear during episodes of the show.
Julian Chagrin has also appeared as a guest actor on a number of other children’s shows: he was a guest on two episodes of the hit children’s television series “Hoppa Hey” in 1987 with his wife Rolanda, and in 1991. In 1998 he participated in the “Nice Butterfly” program as a mime artist. In 1999 he was a guest on one of the episodes of Sesame Street.
In 2021 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of the Israeli Association of Performing Artists.
