Shifra Lerer

Shifra Lerer (August 30, 1915 March 12, 2011) was an Argentine-born American Yiddish theater actress based in New York City.[1] Lerer appeared opposite every major Yiddish theater actor during her career, which lasted 90 years.[1][2] She was also cast in film roles, including the 1997 Woody Allen film Deconstructing Harry.[1]

Shifra Lerer
BornAugust 30, 1915
DiedMarch 12, 2011 (aged 95)
OccupationActress
MovementYiddish theatre
Spouses
(m. 1956; died 1961)
  • Michael Michalovic

Early life

Lerer was born in the Santa Catalina colony[3] in Argentina on August 30, 1915.[2] Her father, a manager at a soap factory, had immigrated to Argentina from the Russian Empire to escape anti-Semitism and poverty through the sponsorship of philanthropist and banker Maurice de Hirsch.[2] Lerer was discovered in Buenos Aires by Yiddish theater legend, producer and actor Boris Thomashefsky, who was starring in the area, when she was just five[1] or eight[3] years old, at the recommendation of her sister (the actress Miryam Lerer). At ten, she was participating in Yakov Botashanski's productions in a theater circle. When she was older, she studied at a Spanish-language drama school and performed for three years on the Argentinian stage. She then passed the examinations for the actors' union and became a member, playing with the star Miryam Karalova-Kambarov, then Moyshe Oysher and Florence Weiss, and finally in serious drama roles with Zygmunt Turkow in Urteyl, Hirsh Lekert, Ivan Kruger and Di glokn-tsier fun Notr-dam (The Bell-ringer (Hunchback) of Notre Dame).[3]

Career

Lerer played with Yakov Ben-Ami and Bertha Kalich in Friedrich Wolf's Profesor Mamlok, Strindberg's Der Foter, and H. Leivick's Der poet is blind gevorn (The poet became blind); with Samuel (Hymie) Goldenberg in Kalmanovich's Hayntike kinder (Kids these days); and with Maurice Schwartz in Singer's Moyshe Kalb.

In 1943 she was invited by Samuel Goldberg to perform at the Parkway Theater in Brooklyn (owned by Hymie Jacobson and his brother Irving). Her first performance was in Fun Niu York keyn Berlin; she then toured concertizing at places like the Arbeter Ring, the National Yiddish Workers Union, and Camp Boyberik. In 1946 she went back to Argentina where she worked with Ben-Zion Witler at the Mitre theater and thereafter toured and performed with him; they married in 1957. Witler died from a brain tumor in 1961.[2]

Lerer joined the actors' union in 1949 and played in Got, mentsh un tayvl with Mikhal Mikhalesko and Gustav Berger. In 1952, she participated in Herman Yablokoff's production of Benyomin Ressler's Onkl Sem in yisroel (Uncle Sam in Israel) in the Public Theater in New York.[3]

Personal life

Lerer ultimately decided to settle permanently in New York City.[2] She worked actively in the Yiddish theater circuit until she was 90 years old.[1] Her second husband was the Yiddish actor Michael Michalovic, who died in 1987. She was best friends with the late Yiddish theater actress Mina Bern, who died in 2010.[4]

Shifra Lerer died of a stroke in Manhattan on March 12, 2011, at the age of 95.[2] She was buried in Block 67 of Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, next to her second husband Michael Michalovic.[1][5] The cemetery's Block 67 is reserved for who worked in New York City's Yiddish theater industry.[4] Lerer was buried just rows from Boris Thomashefsky, who discovered Lerer at the age of 5 in Argentina.[4]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1950 God, Man and Devil Freda
1990 Avalon Nellie Krichinsky
1992 A Stranger Among Us Yiddish Woman #1
1996 Breathing Room Kathy's Grandmother
1997 Deconstructing Harry Dolly
2000 The Komediant Documentary
2005 Yiddish Theater: A Love Story

References

  1. "NYC Yiddish theater actress Shifra Lerer dies". Wall Street Journal. Associated Press. 2011-03-15. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  2. Berger, Joseph (2011-03-16). "Shifra Lerer, Actress in Yiddish Theater, Dies at 95". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  3. Zalmen Zylbercweig, Leksikon fun Yidishn teater, Book three, 2259
  4. Kilgannon, Corey (2011-03-15). "Yiddish Theater Bids Farewell to Shifra Lerer". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  5. Kohn, Melvyn (2011-03-17). "New York loses Shifra Lerer, Yiddish performer born in Argentina". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
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