Saying goodbye to Assi Dayan
Dozens come to pay their respects to iconic Israeli actor and director; 'We lost a beautiful Israeli, the ultimate Israeli,' actor Shaike Levi says.
Dozens of Israelis arrived at the Cinemateq in Tel Aviv to pay their respects and say goodbye to iconic Israeli director, actor and writer Assi Dayan as his coffin lay in state ahead of his funeral in Nahalal.
Dayan, one of the greatest creators and actors in Israeli cinematic history, passed away on Thursday morning in his Tel Aviv home at the age of 68. He left behind a rich legacy of films he wrote and directed, a long list of memorable roles he played from the 60s until his final years and a private life filled with scandals.
"Assi eulogized himself every which way," his sister Yael Dayan said. "I'm glad the focus is off the scandals in his private life, because that is minor. It doesn't matter what pushes a man to create, even if he needs chemical aides. There's no judgement, only loss and grace. There's something very comforting in the public's embrace. The New York Times ran a eulogy for Assi today and that's an international embrance."
"He really was magnifying, it was fun to be around him," Shaike Levi, of the Gashash HaHiver comedy trio, said. "In cinema, it was very easy to work with him. He understood things because he was an actor himself. I come here today feeling everyone in the country should come here - we lost the beautiful Israeli, the ultimate Israeli. It's symbolic that Assi died so close to Independence Day."
"I haven't come to terms with this yet, my baby's gone," Dayan's mother Ruth said when she left his home on Thursday. "It's not the age in which parents need to bury their son."
A ceremony will be held at the Cinemateq later in the day. After that, Dayan's coffin will be taken to Nahalal, where he was born and grew up. There he will also be laid to rest at 4 pm.
