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Anna Appel (1888–1963), was a Romanian-born American stage and film actress, known for her works in the Yiddish language. She was active in New York City for over 50 years in Yiddish theatre (in the Yiddish Theatre District), and Yiddish cinema.

Biography

Anna Bercovici was born on May 1, 1888 in Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania (now Romania). Her parents Jeanette (née Schaeffer) and Bernard Bercovici, owned a hotel.

Her career started in 1902, when her family moved to Montreal, Canada where she worked with amateur theatre groups. She moved to New York City to marry Isadore Appel (Isidor Appel), who died in 1908. In 1904, she joined a Yiddish vaudeville company in New York City; and in 1918, she joined Maurice Schwartz’s Yiddish Art Theatre in New York City. In 1915, she married Sigmund Ben Avi.

Appel continued to act in vaudeville until 1916, followed by work on Broadway and off-Broadway stage productions. She was in the cast of Did I Say No? (1931) at the 48th Street Theatre; Good Neighbor (1941) at the Windsor Theatre; All You Need Is One Good Break (1950) at the Mansfield Theatre; Highway Robbery (1955) at the President Theatre; Comic Strip (1958) at the Barbizon-Plaza; and Abie's Irish Rose (1954) at the Holiday Theatre.

She died on November 19, 1963 at the age of 75 of a heart attack at Bellevue Hospital in New York City.

Filmography

• Yizker (1924), silent film directed by Sidney M. Goldin; as Zsusi, Leybke's foster mother
• Broken Hearts (1926), silent film directed by Maurice Schwartz; as Shprintze
• The Heart of New York (1932), directed by Mervyn LeRoy; as Mrs. Zelde Marantz
• Symphony of Six Million (1932), directed by Gregory La Cava; as Hannah Klauber
• Faithless (1932), directed by Harry Beaumont; as Mrs Mandel, second landlady
• Jolly Paupers (1937), directed by Leon Jeannot and Zygmunt Turkow
• Green Fields (1937), directed by Edgar Georg Ulmer; as Rochel
• The Singing Blacksmith (1938), directed by Edgar Georg Ulmer, Ben–Zvi Baratoff, Ossip Dymow; as Chaye-Peshe

Television

• Lux Video Theatre (1952), television anthology series; as Frau Schmidt
• Goodyear Television Playhouse (1954), television anthology series; as Mama
• Kraft Theatre (1954–1955), television anthology series; as Mom
• Naked City (1958), television police procedural series; as Mrs. Levinsky

References

1. ^ "Anna Appel Dead; Yiddish Actress; Character Player Also Had Many Broadway Roles In Yiddish and English Films". The New York Times. 1963-11-21. p. 39. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-02-11.
2. ^ Warnke, Nina (December 31, 1999). "Anna Appel". Jewish Women's Archive. Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Retrieved 2024-02-11.
3. "Did I Say No?". Playbill Vault.
4. "Good Neighbor". Playbill Vault.
5. "All You Need Is One Good Break". Playbill Vault.
6. Gelb, Arthur (November 7, 1955). "Play From Israel Arrives Tonight; ' Highway Robbery' Will Be Put On at the President by Heritage Group". The New York Times. p. 32 – via Times Machine.
7. Atkinson, Brooks (May 25, 1958). "'Comic Strip'; Folkways of New York In Admirable Cartoon". The New York Times. pp. Section X, Page 1 – via Times Machine.
8. "Abie's Irish Rose". Playbill Vault.
9. Zolotow, Sam (October 5, 1954). "'Abie's Irish Rose' Will Be Revived; Up-to-Date Version of Play That Had Record Run in the Twenties Due Next Month". The New York Times. p. 23. ISSN 1553-8095 – via Times Machine.
10. "Yizkor". National Center for Jewish Film. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
11. Gevinson, Alan (1997). Within Our Gates: Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960. University of California Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-520-20964-0.
12. Erens, Patricia (1988-08-22). The Jew in American Cinema. Indiana University Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-253-20493-6.
13. Doherty, Thomas (Summer 2011). "Symphony of Six Million". Cineaste. XXXVII (1). Archived from the original on September 25, 2013.
14. Hall, Mordaunt (1932). "Tallulah Bankhead and Robert Montgomery in a Film Version of a Story by Mildred Cram", film review, archives of The New York Times, November 19, 1932.
15. "Jolly Paupers / Freylekhe Kabtsonim". National Center for Jewish Film. Retrieved 2024-02-12.
16. "Green Fields". National Center for Jewish Film. Archived from the original on 2011-08-30.
17. "The Singing Blacksmith / Yankl Der Schmid". National Center for Jewish Film.
18. Hawes, William (16 November 2015). Live Television Drama, 1946-1951. McFarland. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-4766-0849-5.

External links

• Anna Appel at IMDb

• 1888 births
• 1963 deaths
• 20th-century American actresses
• 20th-century American Jews
• Actresses from Bucharest
• Actresses from New York City
• American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
• American silent film actresses
• Romanian emigrants to the United States
• Romanian silent film actresses
• Yiddish theatre performers
• Vaudeville performers