Celebrity Biographies
Beech harareet
She will remain in the memory of moviegoers as Esther, the woman who dazzles the protagonist of “Ben-Hur”. Haya Harareet, an Israeli, passed away at the age of 89 on February 3, 2021, in Buckinghamshire, England. Her niece Tamar Tessler has revealed that she died overnight while she slept and that her ashes will be scattered in various places in Israel.
Born on September 20, 1931 in Haifa, in what was then Palestine and now Israel, Haya Neuberg –her birth name– won a beauty contest in her youth. She decided to embark on a film career that began with the adventure film Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer , shot in her country and followed by the Italian drama La donna del giorno , alongside Virna Lisi.
William Wyler had a good eye when recruiting her to play Esther in Ben-Hur , from 1959, the most popular adaptation of the novel by Unionist General Lew Wallace , where she attracts attention at moments such as when the protagonist discovers that he is feeding his mother and his sister, who have contracted leprosy. Critics raved about her work. ” Hague Harareet, an Israeli actress making her first appearance in an American film, emerges as a stalwart performer,” Variety noted. “Her portrayal of Esther, the former slave and daughter of Simonides, butler of the House of Hur, is sensitive and revealing. . Wyler probably deserves considerable credit for taking a chance on the unknown. She has a striking appearance and represents a welcome departure from typical Hollywood actresses.”
Married to the Israeli engineer Nachman Zerwanitzer, Haya Harareet divorced to join the British director Jack Clayton , responsible for titles such as Suspense! . She was by his side until her death in 1995.
He barely made the most of the fact that he had become a celebrity because of Wyler’s film, since he did not appear in any major films again. Following this work, Ella Haya Harareet appeared in the thriller The Third Key and the medical drama Men Who Leave Their Marks . Back in Italy, she starred in Antinea, l’amante della città sepolta and L’ultima carica , from 1964, her last feature film.