Mina Bern

Mina Bern (May 5, 1911 – January 10, 2010) was a Polish-American actress and a prominent figure in Yiddish theater, whose career spanned decades of performance across Europe, Israel, and the United States, including a Broadway presence from 1966 to 1990.

Born Mina Bernholtz in Bielsk Podlaski, Poland, she made her theatrical debut in Białystok under director Yehuda Greenhoyz. In 1930, through her relative Moishe Broderzon, she shortened her surname and successfully auditioned for the Ararat Yiddish cabaret theater in Łódź. She subsequently performed at the Warsaw Scala and at the Kaminska theaters, as well as at a local folk theater. Alongside Dina Halperin and Sam Bronetski, she was part of the collective known as Our Theater, and she also worked with director Zygmunt Turkov. She later founded a small cabaret theater in Białystok.

Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, Bern fled to Russia with her daughter, where she performed with the Bialistocker yidisher miniatur-teatr of Shimon Dzigan and Israel Shumacher. In 1944 she was sent to a camp in Uganda, where she performed children's theater for Poles stationed there. In 1945 she traveled to Kenya through Jewish family connections, and from there to Israel, where she collaborated with Jenny Lavitz on the revue Rozhinkes mit mandlen. The production received favorable reviews and was subsequently staged at the Hebrew Li-La-Lo revue theater. In 1949, following an incident in which she was accused of arranging an assault on theater critic Haim Gamzu after a negative review, she emigrated to the United States.

Settling in New York City, Bern married actor and producer Ben Bonus. Together they operated the Village Theater, which presented Yiddish performances. She also recorded songs in Hebrew. Her Broadway career included starring in Those Were the Days and appearances in Let's Sing Yiddish, Light, Lively and Yiddish, and the musical Sing Israel, Sing. In 1999 she received an Obie Award for her performance in Sweet Dreams (Zise khaloymes) at the Folksbiene.

Bern also built a film career, with screen appearances including Little Odessa (1994), It Could Happen to You (1994), Flawless (1999), and Brooklyn Babylon (2001), among others. She died on January 10, 2010, and was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens.