Zohra Lampert (born May 13, 1931) is an American retired actress, who has had roles on stage, film and television. She performed under her then-married name of Zohra Alton early in her career.
Lampert joined other University of Chicago alumni, including Ed Asner and Anthony Holland, in the Playwrights Theatre Club, which was established in Chicago by the theatrical producer David Shepherd. She later said that until she was thrust on stage as Grisha in Berthold Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle, in which she had initially joined the cast as assistant scenic designer,[9] she thought, "I might want to become something scholarly. A librarian, not an actor."[7] She subsequently appeared as The Actress in Rounddance, drawing praise from Sydney J. Harris of the Chicago Daily News as "unquestionably the find of the summer season. . . a gypsy-like girl with elfin grace and the dramatic constitution of Shirley Booth."[10]
She left the Playwrights Theater Club to study acting with Mira Rostova, Montgomery Clift's acting coach, even though her upbringing had taught her that acting "was an unserious thing to do."[11] After a stint as a member of the Second City troupe in Chicago, she appeared on Broadway as Zohra Alton in the 1956 Broadway production of Diary of a Scoundrel.
Lampert, who began performing under her birth name after her divorce from acting colleague Bill Alton, gave a Tony-nominated performance in 1961's Look: We've Come Through. In 1964 she became one of the 26 members of the newly established Lincoln Center Repertory Theater company.[12]
She scored with a pair of small, noteworthy performances in the films Pay or Die and Splendor in the Grass. In the 1960s/1970s, she was active in supporting roles in film and television, and won an Emmy for her performance as a gypsy in an episode of Kojak ("Queen of the Gypsies", 1975). She co-starred with Gena Rowlands in John Cassavetes' Opening Night (1977).
She was a regular in the sitcom The Girl with Something Extra and the medical drama Doctors' Hospital. During the early 1970s, she originated the role of Ellie Jardin on the CBS soap Where the Heart Is until her character was killed off in 1972. In 1986, she appeared in an episode of Knight Rider (season 4, "Hills of Fire"). She worked less during the 1980s and 1990s. She appeared in The Exorcist III (playing actor George C. Scott's wife) and the offbeat 1999 film The Eden Myth.
Later years
After a ten-year absence from films, Lampert returned to acting in supporting roles in two films: The Hungry Ghosts (2009) and Zenith (2010).
Personal life
Lampert married radio personality Jonathan Schwartz in 2010.[13] She was previously married to Bill Alton, a founding member of Second City and fellow Playwrights Theater Club actor.[11]
^ abcKling, Sylvan (June 24, 1960). "Zohra, The Home-Spun Type". The Jewish Exponent. p. 37. ProQuest2799840280. She refuses to reveal her age—but she can't be much more than 22 or 23—and looks even younger. She is still single. Her parents came to this country from Bessarabia and settled in Manhattan. She was an only child, born when her parents were up in years. [...] After Leaving New York's High School of Music and Art, she decided to attend the University of Chicago. [...] Zohra returned to Manhattan to study under Uta Hagen and Mira Rostova.
Coleman, Janet (1991). The Compass : the improvisational theatre that revolutionized American comedy (University of Chicago Press ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN0226113450.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zohra Lampert.
.jpg)
