Yaakov Bodo

Yaakov Bodo (; born 28 March 1931) is an Israeli actor, comedian and Holocaust survivor.

Biography Yaakov (Yankele) Bodo was born as Iacob Bodoagă (in Romanian: Iacob Bodoagă) in the town of Ștefănești in Romania. During World War II he wandered with his mother and two sisters until they reached the town of Botoșani. In the Holocaust he was employed in cleaning institutions, shoveling snow off roads, and as a kitchen worker for the Germans.

He spoke only Yiddish until the age of 7. He immigrated with his family to Israel in 1950 and settled in Afula. His grandparents were Zionists who helped establish Kfar Hasidim and Kiryat Haroshet (now part of Kiryat Tiv'on) after they emigrated to Mandate Palestine in 1933.

Acting and film career

A year after his arrival in Israel, Bodo joined the Israel Defense Forces, where he first assembled and led the Southern Command Band. Following the disbanding of that troupe in 1954, he was assigned the creation of the Northern Command troupe, which he led for three-and-a-half years.

Meanwhile, he came up with his "Moishe Ventilator" character. Upon his release, he starred in a theater show by that name, which was a hit in the 1950s—running more than a thousand times —and which was eventually made into a film version. was picked up and made into a parody film by the same name , where, under the direction of Uri Zohar, Bodo, accompanied by Shaike Ophir and the Gashah HaHiver trio, portrayed a frugal private whose cost-cutting ideas include cutting on maps in the operation room, which are coveted by a spy who infiltrates the IDF ranks.

In 1967, he performed in Kishon's film Ervinka (, Starred by Chaim Topol), about an incorrigible layabout who becomes involved in a robbery of the Israeli lottery under the cover of making a documentary.

Bodo also performed The Fox in the Chicken Coop , Nahche and The General , Millionaire in Trouble , My Margo , Take When They Give , Five Five , A Miracle in The Village , Just Not on Saturday , Not a Word to Morgenstern , and others.

He also starred in Kupa Rashit (Checkout), a TV comedy about a supermarket, as the security guard Chibotero.

Awards and recognition

1999 - Edith and Israel Pollack Award 2009 - Israeli Theater Award lifetime achievement award 2000 - Lerner Yiddish Foundation Award . 2013 - Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Darling Badge 2016 - the National Authority for Yiddish Culture

Personal life Bodo is a holocaust survivor, he married with three children and has five grandchildren. He is married to his wife and personal manager, Ester, whom he met in Afula.