Film and televisionלאה דגנית

Leah Deganit

Leah Deganit was an Israeli stage actress and painter who performed with the Ohel Theater from 1925 until it closed in 1969.

1907 to 1985Acting at the Ohel TheaterPaintingWriting and translating songs

Died: 2 November 1985, Israel
Occupation: painter, singer, stage actor

Leah Deganit was born in 1907 in Brest

Leah Deganit was born Leah Kornman in 1907 in Brest-Litovsk, then part of the Russian Empire. She immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1924.

Director Moshe Halevi discovered her while looking for actors for the Ohel Theater, which he founded. She acted there from 1925 until the theater closed in 1969. Her roles included parts in "King Lear", "The Imaginary Invalid" and "The Tempest", and she won the Klausner Prize from the Tel Aviv municipality for her role in "The World of Peretz".

She studied painting with Yehezkel Streichman and showed her work in Israel and abroad. In the mid-1960s she began painting, and the Tel Aviv municipality gave her a studio. She also wrote and translated songs, and recorded the album "Songs of Israel" for Capitol Records in the United States.

She was the second wife of Moshe Halevi, and their daughter was the singer Ohela Halevi. Deganit died on November 2, 1985, after a long illness, and was buried in Kiryat Shaul Cemetery.