Film and televisionרות סגל

Ruth Sagall

Ruth Sagall was a Polish-born Israeli actress who worked for decades at the Haifa Theatre and appeared in films and television.

1929 to 2021Decades at the Haifa TheatreSolo stage performancesThe film Doda ClaraHolocaust memoir Goya with Freckles

Born: 9 June 1929, Katowice
Died: 7 August 2021, Haifa
Occupation: actor

Ruth Sagall was born in 1929 in Katowice

Ruth Sagall was born in Katowice, Poland, in 1929. During the Holocaust she survived by passing as a Christian Polish girl. She moved to Israel in 1946 and studied at the Ayanot agricultural school.

In 1956 she went to Toronto, Canada, where she studied acting at the Strandale Bennett Theater School. She returned to Israel in 1962 and joined the Haifa Theatre that year.

On stage she played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion and roles in plays by Chekhov, Strindberg and O'Casey. She performed the solo plays The Woman Destroyed, Available for Proposals and Leah Goes Out on the Street. She also directed the children's plays Winnie-the-Pooh and The Cute Monster.

Her films included Doda Clara and Fantasy on a Romantic Theme in 1977, and The Galilee Eskimos. In 2002 she published Goya with Freckles, a book about how she survived the Holocaust.

She was married and had a daughter and a son, the actor Jonathan Sagall. She died in Haifa in 2021 and was buried there.