Yoni Chen ( he, יוני חן; August 10, 1953 – June 27, 1995) was an Israeli actor, voice actor, director and puppeteer.

Biography

Chen was born in Israel to a

Syrian Jewish Syrian Jews ( he, יהודי סוריה ''Yehudey Surya'', ar, الْيَهُود السُّورِيُّون ''al-Yahūd as-Sūriyyūn'', colloquially called SYs in the United States) are Jews who lived in the region of the modern state of Syri ...

family. When he was two years old, he and his family had lived in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

for five years. After reaching adolescence, Chen attended the Thelma Yellin High School in

Givatayim Givatayim ( he, גִּבְעָתַיִים, lit. "two hills") is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. In it had a population o ...

to study drama, then he worked for the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the Israel, State of Israel. It consists of three servic ...

. He began his career in 1978 performing on stage at the

Cameri Theatre The Cameri Theater ( he, התיאטרון הקאמרי, ''HaTeatron HaKameri''), established in 1944 in Tel Aviv, is one of the leading theaters in Israel, and is housed at the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center. History The Cameri theater was found ...

and the Orna Porat Children's Theatre. That same year, he made his debut film appearance in '' The Band'' and appeared in other films over the next several years such as ''

Dizengoff 99 ''Dizengoff 99'' ( he, דיזנגוף 99) is a 1979 in film, 1979 Israeli film starring Gali Atari, Gidi Gov, Meir Suissa, and Anat Atzmon. The film, considered a cult classic,

''. Among Chen's most popular roles was on the children's puppet show ''

Parpar Nechmad ''Parpar Nechmad'' ( he, פרפר נחמד, ''Nice Butterfly'') is a long-running Israeli children's television program, aimed mainly at pre-schoolers. The show premiered in January 1982 and ran until 2004. It was produced by the Israeli Educat ...

'', in which he performed the character Batz the Turtle. As a voice actor, Chen was heavily involved in the Hebrew language dubbing of ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

''. He performed the Hebrew voices of Sylvester, The Tasmanian Devil and

Elmer Fudd Elmer J.''Hare Brush'' (1956) Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. '' Looney Tunes''/'' Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. He has one of the more disputed origins in the Warner Bros. cartoon pantheo ...

. Other roles Chen performed included Morten, Gusta and Gorgo in ''

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils ''The Wonderful Adventures of Nils'' ( sv, Nils Holgerssons underbara resa genom Sverige, literally ''Nils Holgersson's wonderful journey across Sweden'') is a work of fiction by the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman to receive th ...

'', Tin Man in ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after s ...

'',

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in ''The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...

in ''

The Yogi Bear Show ''The Yogi Bear Show'' is an American comedy animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that centers on the misadventures of forest-dwelling bear Yogi in Jellystone Park. The show debuted in syndication on January 30, 1961 ...

'', all characters in ''

Tip en Tap ''Tip en Tap'' is a Belgian animated television series created by Ray Goossens and produced by the Belgische Radio en Televisie (BRT) in 1969. There were 26 episodes. The series featured two puppies who used to get into some kind of mischief in ...

'', several characters in ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and in ...

'' and many more. Chen also founded a dubbing company which was then later acquired by Elrom Studios after his death.

Personal life

Chen was openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. His partner, Ari worked for

Israeli Educational Television The Israeli Educational Television (also known as IETV, he, הטלוויזיה החינוכית הישראלית, ''HaŦelevizia HaKhinuchít HaIsraelit'' or just ''חינוכית'' - ''Hinuchit'') was a state-owned public terrestrial televisio ...

Death

On June 27, 1995, Chen died after suffering from

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

for some time. He was nearing his 42nd birthday. ''Parpar Nechmad'' underwent a hiatus for a while and eventually, the role of Batz was passed on to Ami Weinberg.5 מפורסמים שמתו מאיידס
(in Hebrew)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Yoni 1953 births 1995 deaths AIDS-related deaths in Israel Israeli male film actors Israeli male stage actors Israeli male television actors Israeli male voice actors Israeli people of Syrian-Jewish descent category:Israeli puppeteers Israeli voice directors Jewish Israeli male actors Israeli gay actors LGBT puppeteers Gay Jews 20th-century Israeli Jews Male actors from Tel Aviv Thelma Yellin High School of Arts alumni 20th-century Israeli male actors 20th-century Israeli LGBT people