Shaike Ophir

Shaike Ophir
Shaike Ophir performing with actress Ziva Rodan, 1951
Born	(1929-11-04)November 4, 1929 Jerusalem
Died	August 17, 1987(1987-08-17) (aged 57) Tel Aviv
Years active	1956-1987

Shaike Ophir (November 4, 1929 – August 17, 1987; Hebrew: שייקה אופיר‎‎) was an Israeli film actor and comedian, and the country's first mime.

Yeshayahu (Shaike) Goldstein-Ophir was born in Jerusalem. His family roots in the city go back to the mid-19th century.

He studied acting as an adolescent, but left school in the 1940s to join the Palmach. During Israel’s War of Independence he escorted convoys to the besieged city of Jerusalem, and took part in naval battles. Ophir, a heavy smoker, died from lung cancer in 1987.

Ophir was married twice and had two children, one from each spouse. His daughter, Karin Ophir, is also an actress.

Thanks to his comic skills he was accepted to the Chezbatron, an army entertainment troupe. In the 1950s, he made a name for himself as a multi-talented performer. He had even recorded a few hit songs during this period.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s Ophir occasionally guest-starred in American TV shows such as Shirley Temple's Storybook and Alfred Hitchcock Presents (in the episode "The Waxwork," where he was billed as Shai K. Ophir). Ophir acted in 28 films, wrote, directed and starred in several variety shows and was an accomplished mime, appearing alongside Marcel Marceau. He reached the peak of his international fame in the title role of Ha-Shoter Azoulay (literally, Policeman Azoulay, translated as The Policeman), a film-vehicle by Ephraim Kishon which won a Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Film (1972) and was nominated for a Best Foreign Language Academy Award the same year. He also starred in other Ephraim Kishon films, including Ervinka, Blaumilch Canal and The Fox in the Chicken Coop, and the 1973 Moshé Mizrahi film Daughters, Daughters. In 1977 he starred opposite Melanie Griffith in The Garden.