Rachel Marcus, veteran actress of the Chamber Theater, died of a heart attack on Friday. She was 72. Marcus was the widow of Israeli poet Nathan Alterman, who died 15 years ago. Their daughter, the poet Tirtza Atar, died eight years ago.
Born in Poland, Rachel Marcus studied acting in Vienna and Berlin and came to Palestine shortly after Hitler’s rise to power.
She joined the Chamber Theater in Tel Aviv after it was founded, together with a number of other actors who had sought but failed to gain admission of the closely-knit Habimah Theater.
Since retiring from the Chamber Theater, she taught acting in Tel Aviv and gave many one person performances, reciting and presenting Alterman’s poems.
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