Orna Porat, was born Irene Klein, a German Christian who worked in the Nazi military industries during World War II. In the 1920s, she was a young actress in her homeland.
After she met Joseph Proter (Porat), a native of Cologne and a Jewish soldier from Palestine who had interrogated her for British intelligence, they moved to Palestine. Irene Proter became Orna Porat, and she converted to Judaism in 1947.
David and Paula Ben-Gurion at the premier of “Saint Joan,” by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Yosef Milo, December 18, 1952.
Photo: Marlin Ytzhak and Yaron Avraham, photographers’ prize, the Israeli Center for the Documentation of the Performing Arts, Tel Aviv University.
Porat left her mark on Israeli theater as an actor in all the important theaters, as a director, and as founder and manager of the Orna Porat Children’s Theater, considered the most significant institution in Israel in the realm of children’s and youth theater.
Porat garnered the Israel Prize laureate in theater for 1979.
Porat began her acting career in Hebrew shortly after she came to this country, and played a number of leading roles in some of the most significant plays of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Porat began her acting career in Hebrew shortly after she came to this country, and played a number of leading roles in some of the most significant plays of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Her first role in Israel was in the play “I Remember Mama,” which premiered in November 1948 in the Cameri Theater, whose management she joined in 1958.
Orna porat and Joseph Proter (Porat) moved to Palestine.
Irene Proter became Orna Porat, and she converted to Judaism in 1947.
