Daliah Lavi

Early life

Lavi was born as Daliah Lewinbuk (or Levenbuch) in Shavei Tzion, British Mandate of Palestine, the daughter of Ruth and Reuben Lewinbuk (or Levenbuch), who were of German Jewish and Russian Jewish descent.

At age 10 she met Kirk Douglas, who was in Israel to film The Juggler, and told him she would like to be a dancer. Douglas helped persuade her parents to send her to Stockholm, Sweden to study ballet.

Career

In 1955 Lavi appeared in her first film, Hemsöborna, a Swedish adaptation of August Strindberg's novel The People of Hemsö. Returning to Israel, her career took off in 1960, when she started appearing in a large number of European and American productions. Fluent in several languages, she acted in German-, French-, Italian-, Spanish- and English-language films.

Lavi was reunited with Douglas in her first American film, Vincente Minnelli's Two Weeks in Another Town (1962). Her portrayal of The Girl, Peter O'Toole's love interest, in 1965's Lord Jim was to have been her breakout American role. But audiences' tepid reaction to the film prompted Lavi to accept a new career path, playing scantily clad femme fatales.

She appeared in Mario Bava's Gothic classic La Frusta e il corpo, or The Whip and the Body (1963), and the first Matt Helm film, The Silencers (1966), opposite Dean Martin. She also acted as 'The Detainer/007' in Casino Royale (1967).

Lavi was subsequently discovered by record producer Jimmy Bowien and began a successful schlager singing career in Germany, with hits such as "Oh, wann kommst du?", "Willst du mit mir gehn?" and "C'est ça, la vie (So ist das Leben)".

Personal life and death

She was survived by her fourth husband, businessman Charles Gans, and their three sons Rouven, Alexander, and Stephen Gans, and one daughter, Kathy Rothman. She also has six grandchildren, Sophie, Ben, Levi, Emma, Hannah and Charlotte. The couple resided in Asheville, North Carolina, where she died on 3 May 2017 at her home. She was 74 years old. Her funeral and burial were in Israel.