Anat Gov (; 13 December 1953 – 9 December 2012) was an Israeli screenwriter and playwright.

Biography

Born in Tiberias, Gov moved to Tel Aviv with her family when she was three years old. She graduated from Thelma Yellin High School of Arts with a degree in theater. In the early 970s, she joined the IDF’s military entertainment troupe, where she met her husband-to-be,

Gidi Gov Gideon "Gidi" Gov (; 4 August 1950) is an Israeli singer, TV host, entertainer, and actor. He was married to Anat Gov before her death in 2012 and they had three children. Biography Early life Gov was born in Rehovot to Daniel and Tzipora ...

. Gov later studied for a year at the theater department of

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

followed by a short career as a stage actress, which she left after appearing in one play. Gov found professional success as a writer. As a screenwriter, she wrote for television shows such as ''

Zehu Ze! ''Zehu Ze!'' (, lit. That's it!) is a long-running Israeli entertainment television program, originally produced by Israeli Educational Television (IETV), and broadcast on the Israeli Channel 1 (until 1994) and on Channel 2. The program ran fr ...

'' She also wrote the screenplay for her husband's satirical late-night show. As a playwright, many of the plays Gov wrote were brought to some of Israel's prominent theaters, such as

Cameri Theater The Cameri Theatre (, ''HaTeatron HaKameri''), established in 1944 in Tel Aviv, is one of the leading theatres in Israel, and is housed at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center. History The Cameri Theatre was founded with the purpose of promoting ...

in Tel Aviv. She was also responsible for the Hebrew translation of international plays such as ''

Via Dolorosa The (Latin for 'Sorrowful Way', often translated 'Way of Suffering'; ; ) is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem. It represents the path that Jesus took, forced by the Roman soldiers, on the way to his crucifixion. The winding rou ...

'' and ''

Mother Courage and Her Children ''Mother Courage and Her Children'' () is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrical productions were produced in Switzerland and ...

.'' Gov's most famous play, however, was 2011's ''Happy End,'' which explores the central protagonist's battle with cancer. In 2012, she received the Rosenblum Prize for the Performing Arts.

Political views

Gov was well known for her outspoken

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

views and her support for

Zionism Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

. She became vocal in her political views following Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. Her most notable comment was when she stated that the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states, primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June ...

was not truly over.

Personal life

Gov was married to the singer

from 1977 until her death in 2012; they had three children and, at the time of her death, two grandchildren. They lived in

Ramat HaSharon Ramat HaSharon (, ) is an affluent city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon, Israel, Sharon region, bordering the cities of Tel Aviv to the south, Hod HaSharon, Hod-HaSharon to the east, and Herzliya and kibbutz ...

. She was outspoken about her own cancer diagnosis, and expressed her wish that society and the media spoke more openly and with less fear about cancer, and death in general.

Death and legacy

Gov died in Tel Aviv following a long struggle with

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the Colon (anatomy), colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include Lower gastrointestinal ...

on December 9, 2012, four days before her 59th birthday. Her obituary in ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' likened her minute preparations for her own death and funeral to those of the protagonist in her play ''Happy End.'' She was buried at Menucha Nechona Cemetery in

Kfar Saba Kfar Saba ( ), officially Kfar Sava , is a List of Israeli cities, city in the Sharon plain, Sharon region, of the Central District (Israel), Central District of State of Israel, Israel. In 2019 it had a population of 110,456, making it the 16th-l ...

, accompanied by

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

's satirical song "

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" is a comedy song written by Monty Python member Eric Idle that was first featured in the film '' Monty Python’s Life of Brian'' and has gone on to become a common singalong at public events such as f ...

". More than 1,000 mourners attended her funeral, including

Tzipi Livni Tziporah Malka "Tzipi" Livni (, ; born 8 July 1958) is an Israeli politician, diplomat and lawyer. A former member of the Knesset and leader in the center-left political camp, Livni is a former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel), foreign mini ...

Shelly Yachimovich Shelly Rachel Yachimovich (; born 28 March 1960) is an Israeli politician, who served three terms as the official Leader of the Opposition, a member of the Knesset, and a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. She served as leade ...

, and Mickey Rosenthal. At the funeral, her husband also recounted condolences from then-

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

by letter and from then-

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

by phone.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gov, Anat 1953 births 2012 deaths People from Tiberias Thelma Yellin High School of Arts alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Jewish women dramatists and playwrights Jewish women screenwriters Jewish Israeli dramatists and playwrights Jewish Israeli screenwriters Jewish Israeli actresses Israeli female dramatists and playwrights Israeli female screenwriters Israeli stage actresses Deaths from colorectal cancer in Israel Burials at Menucha Nechona Cemetery 20th-century Israeli women writers 21st-century Israeli women writers 20th-century Israeli screenwriters 21st-century Israeli screenwriters 20th-century Israeli dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Israeli dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Israeli translators 21st-century Israeli translators 20th-century Israeli Jews 21st-century Israeli Jews