Talia Shapira was an actress and comedian. On completing her military service with the Armoured Corps Troupe (‘lehakat geisot hashirion’), Shapira began landing roles in various plays at a range of Israeli theatres, including the Cameri, Haifa Theatre, and the Pashanel Folk Theatre. Shapira was also a member of legendary comedy company, Lool, and was featured in many of the group’s sketches and programmes, including the famous skit, La Murmur (a spoof of La Boheme). Shapira also recurred in children’s programme, Hopa Hey (‘allez, hop’), and the legendary Israeli sitcom, Krovim Krovim (‘nearby relations’). In 1988, Shapira debuted her one woman show, Ahat Ha’am (‘woman of the people’), where she played a range of eclectic characters – with the most memorable one being the ‘Polish Woman.’
Highlights of her film credits include Schwartz: The Brave Detective (Ami Artzi and Lloyd Kaufman, 1973), Big Eyes (Uri Zohar, 1974), Snooker (Boaz Davidson, 1975), Beautiful Troubles! (Assi Dayan, 1976), A Movie and Breakfast (Alfred Steinhardt, 1977), Belfer (Yigal Bursztyn, 1978), Monologue of a Young Woman (Lihi Hanoch, 1981), and Not for Airing (‘lo l’shidur’) (Yeud Levanon, 1981). For her performance in Assi Dayan’s Big Eyes (1975), Shapira won Best Actress as the Safed Film Festival.
In 2015, the documentary 17 Beginnings of Talia, directed by her son, Jonathan Bentovim, came out. The film tells the story of Shapira’s life, her battle with cancer, and her death in January 1992 at the young age of 45.
