Lex Goudsmit
15th of March, 1913 - 10th of December, 1999
Alexandre Joseph (Lex) Goudsmit, was born as Alexandre Joseph Lacroix in Brussels with the Dutch nationality. He was born out of wedlock, and was the son of Catharina Anna Maria Lacroix from Maastricht. Lex was named after his grandfather. On the 25th of October 1916 Lex's mother moved from Antwerp to Amsterdam, where she started to work as a chambermaid. It was here that Catharina met a certain Louis Goudsmit, they married in October 1918. Louis Goudsmit recognized Lex, who was five at the time, as his own child, and therefore Lex got the last name Goudsmit.
Lex married Erna Weiss in 1935, later officially Erna Goudsmit Weiss, from Austria. In july 1943 he was able to free Erna out of the transitioning camp Westerbork in World War 2. The marriage eventually didn't hold, and they divorced in 1986.
After the Second World War Lex went on the perform in multiple operretas, and this is when he started acting. In 1953 he played in a film for the first time: Secret File. In the beginning of the 60's Goudsmit worked at the Nederlandse Comedie (Dutch Comedy).
In 1966 he got his big breakthrough when he got the role of Tevje in the musical Fiddler on the Roof. He played the role about 1100 times in the Netherlands, and London. This wasn't the only musical Goudsmit did, he also went on the play in De Man van la Mancha, De Engel van Amsterdam, and De zoon van Louis Davids. Lex also acted a lot in tv-series like Flip de tovernaarsleerling en Q & Q. From 1984 - 1999 he played the role of Grandpa Lex in the Dutch Sesamestreet.
Goudsmit died when he was 86-years-old due to a stroke.
