Born: 22 November 1923, Germany
Died: 30 May 2014
Country most active: Israel
Also known as: Hebrew: חנה מרון
Hanna Maron was a German-born Israeli actor, comedian and theater personality who held the world record for the longest career in theater.
As a child, she appeared in several plays, films, and radio plays and at age 10 in 1933, following the Nazi Party’s rise to power, she immigrated with her family to Mandate Palestine.
In 1940, she joined Habimah, which would become the national theatre of Israel. During World War II, she volunteered for the British army’s Auxiliary Territorial Service, serving for two years before joining the Jewish Brigade’s entertainment troupe. In 1945 she joined the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv, where she helped shape the company’s repertoire as a member of the repertory committee, including new works by Israeli dramatists. She initially appeared in supporting roles, but after her success as Mika in He Walked in the Fields by Moshe Shamir, she rose to prominence as one of Israel’s leading actresses. Among her best known roles were Pygmalion, The Glass Menagerie and Hello, Dolly!, as well as several plays by Nathan Alterman.
On 10 February 1970, the airport bus transport to her El Al flight at the Munich-Riem Airport was attacked by Palestinian militants. Her injuries from the grenade attack led her her leg being amputated, but she resumed her acting career a year later.
She starred in the films Aunt Clara (1977), The Vulture (1981) and Dead End Street (1982), and starred in the Israeli sitcom Krovim, Krovim (“Near Ones, Dear Ones”) from 1983 to 1986. In 2000 she founded the Herzliya Theater Ensemble. Later projects included directing an evening of Alterman poems, participating in an evening of Bertolt Brecht’s works, returning to the Cameri to perform in a comedy and starring in a theater reenactment of an IDF refuseniks’ trial (when an Israeli refuses to serve in the Israel Defense Forces).
In 2017 an exhibition was created by Barbara Yelin and David Polonsky after Barbara Yelin’s graphic novel biography of Hanna Maron. The exhibition was featured at Heinz Berggruen-Gymnasium in Berlin, Berlin International Literature Festival, Goethe-Institut of Tel Aviv, Goethe-Institut of Jerusalem and Humboldt-Gymnasium at Vaterstetten, Germany.