When it was announced that Henry Goodman would succeed Nathan Lane as Max Bialystock in the hit Broadway musical "The Producers" in March 2002, more than a few eyebrows were raised. Despite a long and distinguished stage career in South Africa and his native London, the good-looking, light-haired actor was not well known in the USA, despite having already made his Broadway debut in "Art" in 1998.

Born and raised in London's East End, Henry Goodman began his professional career at age 10 when he was cast as one of a group of Jewish children smuggled out of a concentration camp in the WWII-era