Shmuel Shilo

Shmuel Shilo (Hebrew: שמואל שילה‎; 1 December 1929 – 4 October 2011) was an Israeli actor, director and producer, best remembered for his role on the Israeli production of Rechov Sumsum, a popular TV show based on Sesame Street. In 1983 he founded the Negev Theatre and served as its creative director for fifteen years.

Shmuel Shilo was born in Łuck, eastern Poland (now Lutsk, Ukraine). Following the Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland and the creation of the Łuck Ghetto by the German occupation authorities in December 1941, Shmuel (Shmulik, age twelve) was interned in the ghetto along with his family and 20,000 other Polish Jews. He survived the ghetto liquidation action of August 19, 1942, hiding in a cellar with his mother and siblings, and the subsequent deportation to Górka Połonka killing fields. On September 12 he joined the slave workers in a Nazi labor camp set up at the Jewish school building. He escaped once more, during a prisoner revolt by hiding under a work bench, and survived the war in the forests amongst partisans. In 1946, after reuniting with his sister rescued by the Poles, he made aliyah to Palestine, where he joined the Palmach. He was a founding member of Kibbutz Tze'elim.

Shilo studied acting and performed regularly in several theatres. In 1983 he founded the Negev Theatre and served as its art director until 1997. He also acted in several films and television series, best known for his role on the Israeli production of Sesame Street, Rechov Sumsum. He died of cancer at the age of 81.