Gila Almagor

Gila Almagor was born in 1939 in Petah Tikva

Gila Alexandrowitz was born in Petah Tikva on 22 July 1939. Her father Max, a policeman born in Germany, was killed by an Arab sniper in Haifa four months before her birth. Her mother Chaya suffered from severe mental illness, and Gila was sent to the Hadassim youth village.

At Hadassim she studied drama. She then moved alone to Tel Aviv, lived near Habima Theatre and studied acting at its drama studio. In 1963 she went to New York to study at the Lee Strasberg institute.

She first appeared at Habima in 1956 in The Skin of Our Teeth, and later played Anne Frank there. She moved to the Cameri Theatre in 1958 and played many stage roles, including Jeanne d'Arc and Three Sisters. Her films include Sallah Shabati, Siege, Queen of the Road and Life According to Agfa, and she appeared in Munich and the series BeTipul.

Her autobiographical books Summer of Aviya and Under the Domim Tree became films, in which she played her own mother. She founded the Gila Almagor Wish Fund for sick children and co-founded the Israeli Artist Association. She was married to Yaakov Agmon, former director of Habima, until his death in 2020, and they have 2 children.