Yossi Graber (1932-2016) was a stage and screen actor, and voice talent. Graber took his first professional steps already as boy at Bamatenu [‘our stage’] Theatre, an offshoot of Tel Aviv’s Ohel Theatre. Later in life, he studied acting in the UK, in London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA). When he returned to Israel after completing his studies, he joined the Cameri Theatre but was subsequently sacked following a company rebellion that saw the entire ensemble challenge the authority of then-Artistic Director, Yosef Milo.
After his firing, Graber became a flight attendant with Israeli national airline, Elal. Later, he found himself working in a South African theatre where he met his future spouse, set designer and puppeteer, Eric Smith. Meanwhile in Israel, watching Graber’s acting star on the rise from afar, the Cameri’s Yosef Milo decided to bury the hatchet and urged Graber to come back to Israel. Graber obliged and in 1966, he joined the ensemble cast of James Hammerstein’s stage musical production of The King and I, playing the king – a role he took over from Arik Lavie – at the Giora Gudik Theatre.
Graber appeared on just about every theatre stage in the country but towards the end of the sixties, he reunited with the Cameri Theatre – a place that would remain his artistic home for the remainder of his career until his death, fifty years later. Highlights his Cameri stage credits include: The Birthday Party (1965), Shampoo Queen [aka Queen of a Bathtub] (1970), Good (1982), Kiddush (1985), His Life’s Work [‘Mifal Hayav’] (1992), Angels in America (1993), The Merchant of Venice – playing the role of Shylock (1994), Pollard (1995), Was or Wasn’t [‘haya o lo haya’] (2007), Richard II (2012), Little Man, What Now? (2013), and Everyone Wants to Live (2014).
In 2001, Graber appeared in Alon Ophir’s production of Jeff Baron’s Visiting Mr. Green. His performance earned him the Israel Theatre Award for Best Actor. In 2012, he was named that year’s recipient of the Israeli Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award.
Highlights of his television credits include: Hedva and Shlomik [‘Hedva Ve’Shlomik’], Tamari’s Shack [‘Hatzreef shel Tamari’] – playing Tamari, Garden Party, Zbeng! (playing the iconic teacher, Ms. Grump), Deadly Fortune, Shemesh, and Hasamba Third Generation.
Highlights of his film credits include: He Walked Through the Fields (Yossef Milo, 1967), Kazablan (Menahem Golan, 1973), Murder C.O.D. (Assi Dayan, 1973), The 11th Commandment [‘Ha-diber Ha-11’] (Shlomo Suriano, 1975), Salomonico (Alfred Steinhardt, 1975), A Movie and Breakfast (Alfred Steinhardt, 1977), Midnight Entertainer (George Obadiah, 1977), Operation Thunderbolt (Menahem Golan, 1977), Growing Pains (Ze’ev Revach, 1980), A Woman Called Golda – where he played Defence Secretary Moshe Dayan (Alan Gibson, 1982), On the Fringe (Ze’ev Revach, 1987), Himmo, King of Jerusalem (Amos Guttman, 1987), Berlin-Jerusalem (Amos Gitai, 1989), Over the Ocean (Jacob Goldwasser, 1991), What a Wonderful Place (Eyal Halfon, 2005), and Hora 79 (Eli Cohen, 2013).
