Yona Atari

Born

1933-12-04

Died

2019-03-11

Birthplace

Sana'a, Yemen

Biography

Yona Atari (Hebrew: יונה עטרי; December 4, 1933 – March 11, 2019) was a prominent Israeli singer, actress, and comedienne, and one of the leading figures of Israeli stage and entertainment in the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Sana’a, Yemen, she immigrated to Israel as an infant and grew up in Rehovot. She began her career in 1950 with the legendary Nahal entertainment troupe (the first star to emerge from it), then studied acting at the Habima Theatre. She later joined the influential Batzal Yarok (Green Onion) troupe alongside artists such as Uri Zohar and Chaim Topol. Her breakthrough came in musical theater, especially the long-running hit King Solomon and the Cobbler (1964), in which she played Na’ama opposite Ili Gorlitzky (a partnership that lasted decades and included thousands of performances). She also starred in Little Tel Aviv, classical plays such as The Dybbuk, Medea, and The Threepenny Opera, and films including Our Neighborhood (1968). On television she was a regular on the Israeli Sesame Street (Rechov Sumsum) in the 1980s and appeared in other series. The eldest of the well-known Atari sisters (alongside radio personality Shosh Atari and Eurovision winner Gali Atari), she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Israeli Artists’ Association in 1998 and remained active into the 2010s.