The actress Ophelia Ray She passed away today (Tuesday) at the age of 81, after a battle with cancer. Strahl was born in Romania and began performing at the age of 15 at the Jewish Theater in Bucharest and participated in films. She immigrated to Israel in 1964, having played a long list of roles.
40 years of “Lemon Eskimo”: the success in Japan, the traumas and the finishing stella
In 1965 she participated for the first time in the play “Blues for Mr. Charlie” at the Habima Theater, and later acted in other plays, including: “Peretz Balls”, “Anne Frank”, “Touch Me with Longing”, “Sunset”, “Karin”, “Snow Angel” “,” Friendships “,” The Magician from Lublin “, and more. At the same time, she directed a fringe theater troupe and in 1971 participated in the film “The Angel Was a Devil” directed by Moshe Gaz.
However, the best-known role she played, for which she received the 1979 David Violin Award, was that of “Stella the Finisher,” in the film Lemon Popsicle. “At Eskimo, there was finally no rape, but not only was he naked, but I, who until then had tried to get rid of my Romanian accent, was instructed to emphasize it in the role of Stella,” she told Maariv in a 2016 interview. “Director Boaz asked me to help them open up. So I whispered all sorts of things in their ears to reassure them that they would think it’s child’s play. Taking responsibility also helped me.”
- Seder night, the Sabbath and the second holiday: Passover entry and exit times
She was asked if she regretted the job, and replied: “Why regret a job that published me, although while for the Golan-Globe it built an empire, it brought me a total of a thousand pounds. On the other hand, it gave me some stamp. . She added that “the day after winning the award, I returned to the role of a statistical fairy in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Habima. This is the life of an actor. “When he saw me on the street, guest director Joe Tchaikin apologized. He said it was not because of him.”
Over the years, she has participated in other films, including “The Magician from Lublin”, “A Mistake in Number” (alongside Zeev Revach and Shaike Ofir), “Do Not Rise More” (alongside Zeev Revach), “The Plumber” (alongside Tuvia Tzafir), and the first suspense film in Israel “Funny Israelis.” In addition, she played a lot in the theater in the years 1983-1990.
In 1997 she starred in the series “Sun” as the mother of Nahum Shemesh and in 2006 she appeared in a solo play called “Stories of Ophelia”, in which she described her childhood and the various roles she played in theater and cinema. In addition, in 2011 she participated in the documentary “Where did Moshe Gaz go” directed by Avida Livni. Throughout the film, which documents Livni’s search for the director of “The Angel Was a Devil,” Ray reveals the feelings that accompanied her during the filming of the film, and over the years that have passed since.