Ziva Rodann

Ziva Rodann (, born Ziva Blechman ; 2 March 1933), known first as Ziva Shapir , is an Israeli-American actress. She was a Hollywood film star and a frequent guest star on television series from the late 1950s to the late 1960s.

The Canadian Jewish Chronicle described her as "the first Israeli actress to be signed to a long-term deal with a major motion picture studio." and his wife, Rosa.

When she returned to Israel, she took night classes at Tel Aviv University and majored in art, history, and languages. In 1954, she worked at the Chamber Theatre, where she played leading roles in American plays in Hebrew and musical comedies.

Career

Rodann's first stage name was Ziva Shapir. She began her film career with an appearance in Israel's first film, Hill 24 Doesn't Answer, in 1955. She was billed second after actor Mark Dana and played the part of Simira, a mysterious Egyptian woman. Her final credit as Ziva Shapir was a minor role in The Tattered Dress (1957), starring Jeff Chandler and Jeanne Crain.

In 1957, Shapir changed her stage name to Ziva Rodann and was given a supporting role in Samuel Fuller's Forty Guns, starring Barbara Stanwyck. She followed this with uncredited performances as a gypsy singer in Yul Brynner's The Brothers Karamazov and an entertainer in Elvis Presley's King Creole (both released in 1958). One of her first notable roles was as Kirk Douglas' Native American wife in the Hal B. Wallis production Last Train from Gun Hill (1958). She portrayed Naomi's daughter-in-law Orpah in the 20th Century Fox biblical epic The Story of Ruth (1960),

Her brief marriage to Reid Kimball was annulled in 1964.

Divorced from Creech in December 1975, she married Fred S. Meade on 5 February 1977 in Los Angeles. Meade died in 2002.