13 Facts About Shaike Ophir

Shaike Ophir was an Israeli film and theater actor, comedian, playwright, screenwriter, director, and the country's first mime.

Shaike Ophir's family were Masortiim, and his Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry in the city goes back to the mid-19th century.

Shaike Ophir studied acting as an adolescent, but left school in the 1940s to enlist in the Palmach.

Shaike Ophir had even recorded a few hit songs during this period.

Shaike Ophir reached the peak of his international fame in the title role of Ha-Shoter Azoulay, a film-vehicle by Ephraim Kishon which won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Film and was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Academy Award the same year.

Shaike Ophir starred in other Ephraim Kishon films, including Ervinka, Blaumilch Canal and The Fox in the Chicken Coop, and the 1973 Moshe Mizrahi film Daughters, Daughters.

In 1985, Shaike Ophir starred in a stage adaptation of Janusz Korczak's children's novel King Matt the First, where he played seven different roles.

Over this period Shaike Ophir was diagnosed with lung cancer, to which he succumbed in 1987.

Shaike Ophir directed the Israeli movie Hamesh Ma'ot Elef Shahor, and wrote the screenplay for 4 Israeli movies.

Shaike Ophir wrote and performed many sketches and comedy routines, many of which are still popular in Israel today.

Shaike Ophir did a series of Arabic-instruction TV programs that ran through the 1980s.

Shaike Ophir appeared in the Chuck Norris film, The Delta Force.

Shaike Ophir was married twice and had four children, two from each spouse.