Elana Eden

Elana Eden (, born Elana Lani Cooper; 1 May 1940) is an Israeli actress of film, television, and stage, best known for her film debut as the title role in 20th Century Fox's biblical epic The Story of Ruth.

Early life Eden was born in Bat Yam, Tel Aviv District, of the then British Mandate of Palestine (1917–1948), and future State of Israel. Her father, Zvi Cooper, was a Polish-born landscape gardener who had emigrated from Europe and had settled in the Holy Land, in a recently organized farming community in what was then British-occupied Palestine. Her mother (born 1910) was born in the Russian Empire. She has two older siblings: a brother Moti and a sister Tamar. Eden grew up speaking the new modern revived language of Hebrew and being exposed to her parents' native languages of Polish, Russian and Yiddish. She later learned English at school, and attended high school at a kibbutz in the central western coastal Sharon plain. She worked as a writer for the prominent Israeli national newspaper Haaretz, published in the then capital city of Tel Aviv.

Eden decided to become an actress after seeing a performance of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion when she was 15 years old. She won a scholarship to study acting at Israel's Habima Theatre Drama School in Tel Aviv, and made her stage debut in the play Lysistrata, which toured as she performed over 50 times in various locations in Israel in the late 1950s. For appearing in the film, she lost 10 pounds in three weeks, giving up "bread and butter, sour cream, rich sauces and cakes" for "steak, cottage cheese and fresh fruit." Daniel A. Poling, editor of the religious news and features magazine Christian Herald, thought that Eden's portrayal of Ruth was "worthy of an Academy Award." Her performance was also complimented by then famous Hollywood gossip and film / celebrity news columnist Hedda Hopper. She also played a young Czech woman named Anna, in the series starring noted film actress Barbara Stanwyck in The Barbara Stanwyck Show in the episode "The Hitch-Hiker." She also appeared later that decade in Trunk to Cairo, an adventure film starring World War II hero turned acting star Audie Murphy, along with George Sanders and Marianne Koch, and two years later in "The Revolutionary," a 1968 episode of The Name of the Game.

Personal life Eden married Israeli author and playwright Nissim Aloni in 1962, they divorced in 1965. They had three daughters: Rachael, Shira, and Neora.

Eden was a speaker at the "kickoff" dinner for the 1967 United Jewish Appeal campaign and the Modesto Jewish Welfare in Modesto, California.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1960 The Story of Ruth Ruth Film debut 1966 Trunk to Cairo Hadassa Israeli-West German co-production

Television Year Title Role Notes 1960 This Is Your Life Herself Episode: Mervin LeRoy1961 Adventures in Paradise Shasme Hasmar Episode: Who Is Sylvia? The Barbara Stanwyck Show Anna Episode: The Hitch-Hiker 1968 The Name of the Game Episode: The Revolutionary

Plays Lysistrata Tuvia Ha'Choleh The Diary of Anne Frank