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Daliah Lavi

Daliah Lavi (born Daliah Lewinbuk or Levenbuch, Hebrew: דליה לביא [ˌdalja laˈvi]; 12 October 1942 – 3 May 2017) was an Israeli actress, singer, and model.

Early life

Daliah Lewinbuk (or Levenbuch) was born in Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine (now Israel). Her mother Ruth Klammer was born in Wroclaw Poland to Theodor Hermann Klammer and Gertrud Klammer and was of German-Jewish descent. Her father Reuben was born in Belarus to Yosef Lewinbuk and Michla Levine of Russian-Jewish descend. The family surname is Lewinbuk (or Levenbuch).

Daliah met Kirk Douglas when she was 10 years old. Kirk Douglas was in Israel in order to film The Juggler. Daliah told him that she would like to be a dancer. Douglas helped persuade her parents to send her to Stockholm, Sweden to study ballet. Daliah was not suited to the climate. Daliah gave up dancing, and she returned to Israel in order to be a model. A cheesecake photo of Daliah Lavi, while she was adjusting her bikini after it broke while at a Rio de Janeiro swimming pool, was circulated widely by the Associated Press in 1959.

She performed her national service as a goodwill ambassador. Daliah appeared in several more films, Daliah was spotted on a beach during a trip to Rome. Daliah was offered a role in Two Weeks in Another Town, reuniting her with Douglas.

Career

Lavi appeared in her first film in 1955, Hemsöborna, a Swedish adaptation of August Strindberg's 1887 novel The People of Hemsö. She eventually returned to Israel. Her career took off in 1960, when she started appearing in a large number of European and American productions. Daliah was fluent in several languages. She acted in films in German, French, Italian, Spanish and English. Lavi was reunited with Douglas in her first American film, Vincente Minnelli's Two Weeks in Another Town (1962).

She appeared in Brunello Rondi's witch hunt-themed movie Il demonio (1963), a film she considered her best performance. She also appeared in Mario Bava's Gothic classic La Frusta e il corpo (1963), and the first Matt Helm film, The Silencers (1966), opposite Dean Martin. Her portrayal of The Girl, Peter O'Toole's love interest, in 1965's Lord Jim, was to have been her breakout American role. The tepid reaction of audiences to the film prompted Lavi to accept a new career path. She frequently played a scantily clad femme fatale.

Lavi played European entertainer Ilona Bergen in the 1965 mystery film Ten Little Indians. The movie is a film adaptation of Agatha Christie's thriller. The plot is about a group of strangers with deadly secrets, who are lured to an isolated locale, and murdered one by one. She also acted as "The Detainer/007" in Casino Royale (1967).

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

Daliah's single, "Jerusalem", peaked at number 98 in Australia, in August 1971.