When it was announced that Helen Mirren was to play Golda Meir, at first there was only excitement and anticipation.
But this was soon overshadowed by a backlash led by Maureen Lipman against the decision to cast a non-Jewish star as Israel’s first female leader.
Now the family of Meir have spoken out — and they’re delighted that Dame Helen has the lead in the forthcoming biopic.
The late Israeli prime minister’s grandson, Shaul Rahabi, told the JC: “I am sure Mirren is great and being Jewish or not doesn’t matter at all.”
Dame Maureen had raised her objections to Mirren being cast in Golda, telling the JC last month: “With that I disagree, because the Jewishness of the character is so integral.”
But Mr Rahabi — whose mother was Meir’s daughter — said: “I have no issue with Helen Mirren being Jewish or not Jewish playing my grandmother.
“It doesn’t matter at all. I am sure Helen Mirren is great.”
He does have some advice for the Oscar-winning star of The Queen: “If anyone was to portray my grandmother, they should know that she glowed, she had an amazing, powerful aura about her. Whenever she entered the room, you immediately felt it. She carried a powerful aura — that was what I felt.”
Born in Kiev in 1898, Meir moved to the US as a young child, living in New York and Milwaukee before making aliyah.
Playing a pivotal role in the creation of the State of Israel, she served as prime minister from 1969 to 1974 and died aged 80 in 1978.
Sharing his memories of his grandmother, Mr Rahabi said: “I was 21 when she passed away.
“I was raised in Kibbutz Revivim in the Negev and my grandmother was in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem so we met on all the Jewish holidays, Rosh Hashanah and Pesach and summer holidays. We had great times.”
Other leading Jewish figures have spoken out to give their approval for Ms Mirren’s casting.
Dame Esther Rantzen wrote to The Times: “Omid Djalili, who is a Baha’i, delighted audiences in Fiddler on the Roof as Tevye, whose Judaism is intrinsic to his character and the plot, Sir Ben Kingsley is a Quaker who was nominated for a Bafta for his role as the Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern in Schindler’s List.
“And Lipman herself triumphed as Joyce Grenfell, even though Lipman is Jewish and Grenfell was a Christian Scientist.The crucial criterion is that they all created authentic characters rather than racial caricatures.”
Ms Lipman spoke to ITV’s Good Morning Britain to clarify her thoughts, explaining she wasn’t against the casting of her fellow acting dame, Helen Mirren, but wished that Jewish actresses had been considered first.
She said: “My feeling is that Helen Mirren is a fine actress and will be brilliant in the role, and will greenlight [get funding for] the film and be very good, because she’s sexy and Golda Meir, believe it or not, was very sexy. She didn’t look it, but read her book.
"I’ve nothing against Dame Helen playing it. My query is should the casting directors have looked first — and maybe they did — at Bette Midler or Streisand or Jennifer Connelly or Scarlett Johansson.”
She added: “But maybe they wouldn’t greenlight a film and maybe they considered that Dame Helen has Russian in her background and therefore she could play this Jewish woman from Milwaukee.”
Made by Israeli director Guy Nattiv, Golda is a dramatic account of Mrs Meir’s leadership during the Yom Kippur War.
Photos of an unrecognisable Dame Helen in make-up and costume show she has achieved a remarkable transformation and uncanny likeness. Aged 76, the star is a year older than Mrs Meir was during the 1973 war.
Dame Helen has previously played a number of Jewish characters to great acclaim, including an Austrian refugee in the 2015 drama Woman In Gold and a Mossad agent in 2010’s The Debt.
Ingrid Bergman played the Israeli premier in her final role, taking the lead in the 1982 TV miniseries A Woman Called Golda.
Golda is due for release later this year.
