Haya Harareet, the Israeli actress who played Esther opposite Charlton Heston’s titular character in the 1959 religious epic Ben-Hur, has died at the age of 89 at her home in Buckinghamshire, UK.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz broke the news, citing Harareet’s niece.Born in Haifa, then Mandatory Palestine (now Israel), Harareet began her career in Israeli movies including the war pic Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer, which garnered international attention after it premiered in competition at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.She then starred in the 1956 Italian drama La donna del giorno for director Francesco Maselli, before being cast in William Wyler’s big budget remake of Ben-Hur.
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