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Hanna Rovina Dead at 90

February 4, 1980
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Hanna Rovina, the first lady of the Hebrew theater, died last night at the age of 90. Funeral services will be held here tomorrow.

Rovina was one of the founders of the Habimah Theater in Moscow in 1917 and then came to Tel Aviv with the Habimah in 1928. She continued to be one of its leading actors until suffering a stroke last year. Her most memorable role was that of Leah in “The Dybbyk,” which she created in 1923 and continued to play until 1963.

Born in Minsk in October, 1889, she started out to be a kindergarten teacher. She was supervisor of an institute for refugee children in Saratov before moving to Moscow in 1916 to study acting with Stanislavsky. Rovina received many honors and decorations during her long career in Israel.

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