Jacob Ben-Ami

[4][5][6] Ben-Ami was born in 1890 and grew up in Russia, performing in various acting troupes, before emigrating to the United States in 1912.

[2][7] He had a long and distinguished international career, including acting in, staging and directing a number of Broadway plays.

"[10] 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.

The service, staged at Madison Square Garden in New York, was called We Will Never Die and during the two performances attracted 40,000 people.

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