Director and screenwriter Assi Dayan died in his Tel Aviv apartment at the age of 69 on Thursday morning following a long battle with substance abuse and various health issues. Dayan, the son of former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, was considered a pioneer of the Israeli film industry. He first won acclaim with his trailblazing acting role in the film "He Walked Through the Fields," Yossi Milo's adaptation of Moshe Shamir's novel and play of the same name. Dayan has won eight Ophir Awards, akin to the American Oscars, awarded by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. In 1976, Dayan wrote and directed the iconic Israeli cult comedy "Givat Halfon Eina Ona" ("Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer") about a group of army reservists in Sinai. In 1979, he wrote and directed the comedy "Shlager" and in 1992 he wrote and directed " Hachayim Al-Pi Agfa" ("Life According to Agfa"), a film portraying life in a Tel Aviv pub. In recent years, Dayan has had run-ins with the law and has struggled with drug addiction. In 2009, he suffered a massive heart attack. "It seems to me that I've lived enough for several lives," he said in a 2013 autobiographical documentary "Life as a Rumor." "The time has come to take account: 80 movies I acted in, 16 that I wrote and directed, six lifetime achievement awards, six attempted suicides and three wars. But before all else, before God, I was one father," he said in the film. Dayan is survived by four children, his mother Ruth (97), his brother Udi and his sister, Yael Dayan, a former member of Knesset. Yael Dayan told Army Radio on Thursday following the death of her brother: "In recent years there were ups and downs with his health. It was clear that his addiction didn't help him and he believed it helped him write. He truly created, with his genius, until the very end." Nitza Shaul, who played a role in "Halfon Hill Doesn't Answer," told Army Radio about the Assi Dayan that she knew: "We're talking about a genius. He wrote wonderful poetry, that only in the past few months I've been exposed to. The sheer amount of poems display something very deep."
Renowned actor, director and screenwiter Assi Dayan dies
"The time has come to take account: 80 movies I acted in, 16 that I wrote and directed, six lifetime achievement awards, six attempted suicides and three wars. But before all else, before God, I was one father," he said in 2013 film about his life.
Load more...