Meier/Morris/Maurice Axelrod (1879-1953), born in Iasi, Romania, was an actor and producer in the Yiddish theatre in London, Paris and Buenos Aires. At the age of thirteen, Morris joined a circus and became the camel keeper. After this he returned home without any money and thus decided to act in amateur Yiddish productions.

In the 1890s, Morris moved to London and found work in a hat factory. He subsequently became a professional actor and became a popular comedian on London's East End.

Morris' choice of a theatre career caused Morris' parents to sit shiva for him. Ties were broken with the family with the exception of the younger generation. It was to them that Morris would give coins to supplement the parents' income and those of his siblings.

Further, Morris' brother David Axelrod became a scenery painter in the Yiddish theatre, and several others in the family followed his lead into the performance end of the theatre, even in America. However, his nephew, Dr. Jacob Weingreen (1907-1995) took a more scholarly route and became the first Hebrew Chair at Trinity College in Dublin and author