Jacob Schirin Ben-Ami (; December 23, 1890 – July 2, 1977) was a Russian-American actor, theatre and film director. A leading figure in American Yiddish theatre, Ben-Ami founding the Jewish Art Theater in 1919.

Early life Ben-Ami was born Yakob Lazarovich Schirin (; ) on December 23, 1890 in Minsk, Minsk Governorate (present-day Belarus) to Sara Schirin (later Sarah Warren) and Lazar Schirin. Ben-Ami had at least two siblings.

Educated at a cheder, Ben-Ami continued his education at a private school. As a child Ben-Ami sang with Hazzans, as well as for Russian-language theatre.

Career Russian Empire In 1907, aged 17, Ben-Ami became an extra at either the Minsk municipal Russian Theatre or the Moscow Art Theatre. Following the 1908 repeal of the 1883 Russian imperial edict which outlawing the performance of plays in Yiddish, Ben-Ami joined Sam Adler-Meerson Yiddish theater troupe. Initially an understudy, Ben-Ami later played minor roles before being let go by Adler. Ben-Ami then joined the Yiddish theater troupe of Mittleman, and began to play larger roles. Following the merge of the two troupes, Ben-Ami remained with the new troupe for a year. In 1909, Ben-Ami met Peretz Hirschbein in Odesa and together founded the Hirschbein Troupe which aimed to showcase high quality Yiddish drama. Ben-Ami worked for the Troupe as both an actor and theatre director.

Following the disbanding of the Hirschbein Troupe, Ben-Ami relocated to Vilna, Vilna Governorate (present-day Vilnius, Lithuania) and worked as a theatre director for the Yiddish Dramatic Amateur Circle (from which later developed the Vilna Troupe). In 1912, Ben-Ami was invited by Sigmund Feinman to be the director and leading actor at the Feinman's Yiddish People's Theatre in London. However, Feinman's was closed down after only four months and Ben-Ami was subsequently invited by Sara Adler to join her troupe in New York City.

United States As part of Adler's troupe Ben-Ami performed in Di Kreytser sonata at the Novelty Theater in Brooklyn. However, the Novelty Theater closed down midseason and Ben-Ami subsequently joined the actor’s union. In 1913, Ben-Ami joined Boris Thomashefsky and performed in Der ewiger wanderer by Osip Dymov.

In 1919, Ben-Ami founded the New Yiddish Theatre (), known in English as the Jewish Art Theater. Ben-Ami's first English-language production was the 1920 Broadway play Samson and Delilah. According to biographer Alan Gansberg in Little Caesar: A Biography of Edward G. Robinson, Ben-Ami earned fellow cast member Robinson's disdain by allegedly trying to upstage the other actors and overacting. Both the play and Ben-Ami, however, were hits. In her 1921 review of the production, Dorothy Parker proclaimed him "one of the greatest actors on the stage today." He was also lauded by John Barrymore ("inspired"), The New York Times, and Alexander Woollcott ("the cocktail question of the year was 'Ben-Ami or not Ben-Ami'"), among others.

He had much less success in Eugene O'Neill's 1924 play Welded, in which he starred. Among other problems, the style of play did not suit Ben-Ami, and he had a thick accent. Welded closed after three weeks and 24 performances.

As an established star, Ben-Ami helped the then-unknown John Garfield get accepted into the American Laboratory Theater.

He co-directed the 1937 film Green Fields with Edgar G. Ulmer and appeared in the films The Wandering Jew (1933) and Esperanza (1949), and on television.

On March 9, 1943, he starred in a mass memorial service to the 2,000,000 Jews who had, up to that date, been murdered by the Nazis in Europe. The service, staged at Madison Square Garden in New York, was called We Will Never Die and attracted 40,000 people during its two performances.The New York Times, March 10, 1943.

Ben-Ami filmed a scene for the 1958 film The Young Lions, in which he played the father of his friend Montgomery Clift. The scene was subsequently deleted, and would have marked Ben-Ami's English-language film debut. Ben-Ami's last Broadway role was as the Foreman in The Tenth Man, which ran from November 5, 1959, to May 13, 1961.

Personal life In April 1909, Ben-Ami married Slava Estrin (1889–1966), an actress and later translator and journalist, in Saint Petersburg. The couple had one son. Ben-Ami was the brother-in-law of the actress Paula Bauersmith, and the paternal uncle of the actress and film director Jennifer Warren.

On July 2, 1977, Ben-Ami died in New York City, at the age of 86.

Stage and screen Screen Year Title Role Notes 1933 The Wandering Jew (Der Vanderer Yid) Arthur Levi 1937 Green Fields (Grine Felder) Co-directed with Edgar G. Ulmer 1949 Esperanza 1958 The Young Lions Noah's father Scene deleted

Stage Year Title Role Venue Notes 1920–1921 Samson and Delilah Peter Krumback Greenwich Village Theatre Written by , translated by Samuel S. Grossman 1921–1922 The Idle Inn Eisik Plymouth Theatre Written by Peretz Hirshbein, translated by Isaac Goldberg and Louis Wolheim 1922–1923 Johannes Kreisler Johannes Kreisler Apollo Theater Written by Louis N. Parker 1923–1924 The Failures He Garrick Theatre Written by Henri-René Lenormand, translated by Winifred Katzin 1924 Welded Michael Cape 39th Street Theatre Written by Eugene O'Neill Man and the Masses The Nameless One Garrick Theatre Written by Ernst Toller, translated by Louis Untermeyer 1926 The Goat Song Guild Theatre Director. Written by Franz Werfel, translated by Ruth Langner Schweiger Franz Schweiger Mansfield Theatre Also staged. Written by Franz Schweiger, translated by Jack Charash and William A. Drake 1927 John John Klaw Theatre Written by Philip Barry 1928 Diplomacy Count Orloff Erlanger's Theatre 1929 The Seagull Trigorin Civic Repertory Theatre The Cherry Orchard Epikhodov, Semen Panteleevich Civic Repertory Theatre The Living Corpse Fedya Civic Repertory Theatre Also staged. 1930 Romeo and Juliet Escalus Civic Repertory Theatre The Green Cockatoo Henri Civic Repertory Theatre Siegfried Siegfried Civic Repertory Theatre 1931 Camellia M. Duval Civic Repertory Theatre Translation by Henriette Alice McCrea-Metcalf 1933 Evensong Arthur Kober Selwyn Theatre 1934 A Ship Comes In Dr. Victor Bard Morosco Theatre; Longacre Theatre Written by Joseph Anthony 1936 Bitter Stream Civic Repertory Theatre Staged by. Written by Victor Wolfson 1946 A Flag Is Born Tevya Adelphi Theatre; Music Box Theatre; Broadway Theatre Replacement for Paul Muni with Luther Adler 1958The Infernal Machine The Old Shepherd Phoenix Theatre 1959–1961The Tenth Man Foreman Booth Theatre (1959–1961); Ambassador Theatre (1961) Written by Paddy Chayefsky

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References

External links January 1, 1922, photograph Half-length portrait caricature in the Library of Congress Jacob Ben-Ami portrait with Doris Keane, 1924