Helen Beverley

Helen Beverley (November 9, 1916 – July 15, 2011) was an American film and stage actress, who began her career in Yiddish theater and films. She was sometimes credited as Helen Beverly. Early life Beverley was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Anna and Louis Smuckler, both of whom acted in stock theater in Boston. She supplemented the normal education for children by taking classes in drama and by studying dancing with Ruth St. Denis and the Denishawn dancers. She gained early acting experience with the semi-professional Ibsen Players in New York. Career Beverley began her career in Yiddish theater and the Yiddish-language films, including a starring role in Peretz Hirshbein's Green Fields in 1937. Screenwriter Hirshbein adapted the film from his 1916 play of the same name and cast Beverley in the lead role. The National Center of Jewish Cinema has praised Green Fields, saying the film "heralded the Golden Age of Yiddish cinema." She next starred in The Light Ahead, a 1939 film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and filmed in New Jersey. She also appeared in the 1940 Yiddish film, Overture to Glory about a cantor. Her sole Broadway role was in Clean Beds in 1939.