Berta Gersten

Berta Gersten (; August 20, 1892 – September 10, 1972), was a Polish-American Yiddish theatre and film actress. In 1954, Gersten made her English-language film debut in The Benny Goodman Story and her Broadway debut in The Flowering Peach.

In 1899, the family immigrated to New York City where Gersten's father worked as a courthouse translator and her mother as a dressmaker for actresses. Her acting debut happened because her mother was working for an actor who needed a child for a production.

A film adaptation of the play Mirele Efros was made in the United States in 1939. It was directed by Josef Berne with Gersten in the title role and Ruth Elbaum as Shaindl. It was made in Yiddish with English subtitles.

Gersten acted in Yiddish plays, but in 1954 she took a role in an English-speaking play "The World of Sholom Aleichem" on Broadway. She was known for acting in the theatre, but she played Benny's mother in the 1956 film The Benny Goodman Story. This was her only Hollywood film appearance. The couple had one son, the photojournalist Albert Fenn. Gersten was the daughter-in-law of the Yiddish theater actress Annetta Schwartz and Moishe Finkel, an actor, theatre director and manager.

During the last years of her life Gersten lived with Ben-Ami.

Stage and screen Screen Year Title Role Notes 1932 Yiskor 1938 A Brivele der mamen 1939 Mirele Efros Mirele Efros 1950 God, Man and Devil Pesye 1954 The Benny Goodman Story Dora Goodman English-language film debut Stage Year Title Role Venue Notes 1954–1955 The Flowering Peach Esther Belasco Theatre 1959–1960 A Majority of One Shubert Theatre (1959); Ethel Barrymore Theatre (1959–1960) Understudy for Gertrude Berg 1963 Sophie Mama Winter Garden Theatre Based on the life of Sophie Tucker 1971 My Father's Court