Azaria Rapaport was an actor, broadcaster, and journalist. Born in Tel Aviv, Rapaport studied acting in his teens at the Zvi Friedland Acting Studio. He later joined the Haganah Jewish resistance organisation, before enlisting with the British army in 1942. After completing his service in 1946, he began broadcasting at the Jerusalem Calling radio station, and writing for broadsheet newspaper, Haaretz.
In the early 1950s, Rapaport joined the Habima National Theatre company where he appeared in productions of Death of a Salesman, The Taming of the Shrew, Mother Courage and her Children, and Othello. In 1964, he landed the leading role in the Pink Theatre’s production of Boeing Boeing. Back in journalism, in 1953 Rapaport joined daily paper, Maariv, as an inhouse columnist, theatre and film critic. All the while, he also worked as a radio host, producer, and editor for The Voice of Israel and later, Israeli public television when it launched in the late sixties. From 1973-1977, he was stationed in New York as the Israeli Consulate’s Cultural Attaché.
Highlights of his onscreen acting credits include Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer (Thorold Dickinson, 1955), Tel Aviv Taxi (Larry Frisch, 1956), Is Tel Aviv Burning? (Kobi Jaeger, 1967), Streets of Yesterday (Judd Ne’eman, 1989), and Things (aka Devarim) (Amos Gitai, 1995).
Highlights of his voiceover film work include Four who Chose to Act (Natan Gross, 1953), The Hula Valley (Natan Gross, 1954), To the Land of the Negev (Adam Goldberg, 1955), Blood Oath (Natan Gross, 1956), A Path of Work and Creation (Natan Gross, 1958), and Evening in Nes Harim (Zeev Rav-Nof, 1964).
Rapaport is the father of Israeli journalist Tali Lipkin-Shahak.
