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Biography
Alexandre Joseph (Lex) Goudsmit (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈlɛks ˈxʌu̯tsmɪt]; March 15, 1913 in Brussels – December 10, 1999 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch actor.
Goudsmit's father, a diamond worker, was Jewish and his mother Roman Catholic. He became famous in 1966 for playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, which role he performed some 1100 times in the Netherlands and in London. He played many characters on Dutch television, among others in the popular youth series Q en Q (1974) and Thomas en Senior (1985–88). From 1984 to 1999 he played Grandpa Lex on Sesamstraat, the Dutch version of Sesame Street.
When Goudsmit died as the consequences of a stroke, instead of doing an episode dealing with his death, along the lines of Mr. Hooper's death, the producers addressed the issue on the program following Sesamstraat, called Jeugdjournaal (Youth News). The program aired a compilation of his best appearances on the show and commented on his death. Goudsmit had told producers that he wanted to stay on Sesamstraat even after his death, so the latest scenes he taped were still used on the next season. During this season, he was slowly phased out of the show.