Ephraim Kishon

Ephraim Kishon was born on August 23, 1924 in Budapest, Hungary.

In 1940 he won his first prize for writing a novel for high school students.

Due to the racial laws applied in Hungary during World War II, he was not allowed to continue his studies at the university and therefore he began to study jewelry making in 1942.

His first marriage to Eva (Chawa) Klamer in 1946 ended in divorce. In 1959, he married Sara (née Lipovitz), who died in 2002. In 2003, he married the Austrian writer Lisa Witasek.

In 1949 he immigrated to the newly founded state of Israel, together with his first wife Eva (Chawa) Klamer, to escape the Communist regime. When arriving in Israel an immigration officer officially Hebraicized his name to "Ephraim Kishon". According to Kishon, the Jewish Agency clerk asked him for his name and when he answered "Ferenc" the clerk said: There is no such thing, and wrote "Ephraim", and afterwards he went ahead and Hebraicized his family name as well, Kishon being a river near Haifa, the Israeli city on Mount Carmel.

In 1952 Kishon began writing a regular satirical column called "Had Gadya" ("One Young Goat" in Aramaic, taken from the Passover Seder liturgy) in the daily Hebrew tabloid "Ma'ariv". Kishon kept writing the column for about 30 years, while in the first two decades he published a new column almost every day. Within a few years after launching his writing career in Israel Kishon became one of the most prominent humorists and satirists in the country.

Kishon had three children: Raphael (b. 1957), Amir (b. 1963), and Renana (b. 1968).

Kishon expanded into cinema in the early 1960s. He wrote, directed and produced five feature films (all of them comedic /satirical movies). Three movies were nominated for major international awards (The Golden Globe award), two were nominated for the Oscar:.

Directed and wrote 2 features nominated as 'Best Foreign Language Film' at the Academy Awards: Sallah (1964) and The Policeman (1971).

His feature Te'alat Blaumilch (1969) was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1970 and The Policeman (1971) finally won in 1972.

He was a writer and director, known for Ha-Shu'al B'Lool Hatarnagalot (1978), Sallah (1964) and Te'alat Blaumilch (1969). He was married to Lisa Witasek, Sara Lipovitz and Hava Klamer.

Until his death in 1979, Friedrich Torberg translated his work into German. Thereafter Kishon did the German translations himself.

In 1981, Kishon established a second home in the rural Swiss canton of Appenzell after feeling unappreciated in Israel, but remained a staunch Zionist.

Kishon was a lifelong chess enthusiast, and took an early interest in chess-playing computers. In 1990, German chess computer manufacturer Hegener & Glaser together with Fidelity produced the Kishon Chesster, a chess computer distinguished by the spoken comments it would make during a game. Kishon wrote the comments to be humorous, but were also carefully chosen to be relevant to chess and the position in the game.

In 2002, he was awarded the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement & special contribution to society and the State of Israel. Upon receiving the prize, he remarked: "I've won the Israel Prize, even though I'm pro-Israel. It's almost like a state pardon. They usually give it to one of those liberals who love the Palestinians and hate the settlers.".

Kishon died on January 29, 2005 at his home in Switzerland at the age of 80 following a cardiac arrest. His body was flown to Israel and he was buried at the Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv.

Pictured on an 11.70s Israeli commemorative postage stamp issued 9 February 2016.