Orna Porat

Orna Porat was born in 1924 in Cologne

She was born Irene Klein in Cologne, Germany, in 1924. Her father Willi was Catholic and her mother Elise was Protestant, but in her youth she chose atheism and socialism. In 1934 the family moved to Porz, where she joined the Nazi youth movement despite her parents' objection.

She studied acting at a drama school and began working at a theater in Schleswig. There she met Joseph Proter, an officer in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army. She moved with him to the Land of Israel and married him, and in 1957 she converted to Judaism, after which they adopted two children.

She joined the Cameri Theater, where Yemima Millo suggested the name Orna Porat and helped her soften her German accent. She played many stage roles, directed productions and acted in films. After the Cameri's crisis in 1958 she joined its administrative board, and she retired from the theater in 1984.

In the early 1960s she studied children's theater in France and England. She then founded a children's theater under the Cameri, which became an independent theater bearing her name in 1970. She also helped found ASSITEJ, an international children's theater association. She died in Ramat Gan on 6 August 2015.