Gila Golan (Hebrew: גילה גולן) is an Israeli actress and former model.
Early life
Golan does not know when or where she was born. Her parents were murdered in the Holocaust and she was adopted by Zoshia Zawatcki, who saw her wandering the streets of Kraków.[1][2] She was given the name Zoshia Zavatski by her Polish family and renamed to Mara Goldenberg in Israel.[3] She also used the names Miriam Goldenberg and Gila Goldenberg.[4]
Golan was spotted by an American photographer and appeared in the Israeli women's magazineLaIsha.[8] In 1960, she was the runner-up for Miss Israel behind Aliza Gur.[9] She placed second in the Miss World 1960 competition[10] and changed her name to Gila Golan to prevent the religiously conservative family she lived with in Tel Aviv from learning about it.[11][12] She was sent to the United States to raise funds after the competition.[13]
Golan starred in Our Man Flint,[16] which was banned in Lebanon due to her being an Israeli citizen.[17] She also appeared in The Valley of Gwangi[18] and Three on a Couch. Golan ended her career in 1969, citing her poor pay of $150 a week for Our Man Flint while Columbia earned $1,500 as she was on loan, and said that her former agent was sabotaging her career.[19] In the 1980s she aided the fundraising and organization of the 2nd Israel Film Festival.[20]
Personal life
Golan married Alex Urban in 1964, but became separated in 1965, and divorced in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, in 1967.[21][22] She married Matthew Bernard Rosenhaus on September 16, 1969, in Montreal, Canada, and had three children with him.[23][24][25] Rosenhaus became the largest stockholder in Columbia in 1973.[26]
The city of Seattle ceremonially adopted Golan on April 29, 1966, with Mayor James d'Orma Braman as her godfather.[27] She became a citizen of the United States in 1969.[28] Golan sold her apartment at The Pierre for $10 million in 2014. She now lives in Florida with her third husband.[29]
