Mina Bern

Mina Bern (May 5, 1911 – January 10, 2010) was a Polish and American actress. She was a star of the Yiddish theater.

Life Mina Bernholtz was born in Bielsk Podlaski in the Grodno Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Poland). Her theatrical debut was in Białystok under the director Yehuda Greenhoyz. In 1930, through her relative Moishe Broderzon, she shortened her name and auditioned successfully to join the Ararat Yiddish cabaret theater in Łódź, A few years later, she established a small cabaret theater in Białystok.

Bern fled to Russia with her daughter after the Nazi invasion of Poland; there she played with the "Bialistocker yidisher miniatur-teatr" (miniature revi-teater) She recorded songs in Hebrew.

She died in 2010, and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens.

Awards Bern received an Obie Award in 1999, for her performance in Sweet Dreams (Zise khaloymes), at the Folksbiene.

Filmography Brooklyn Babylon (2001) .... Nanna Flawless (1999) .... Mrs. Spivak Celebrity (1998) .... Elderly Homeowner The First Seven Years (1998) (TV) .... Landlady I'm Not Rappaport (1996) Everything Relative (1996) .... Grandma Kessler Little Odessa (1994) .... Grandma Tsilya It Could Happen to You (1994) .... Muriel's Neighbour Pressure Drop (1994) .... Ida Potashner Avalon (1990) .... Alice Krichinsky Crossing Delancey (1988) .... Would-be Victim Tenement (1985) (as Mina Bern Bonas) .... Ruth