Biography

Solemn-looking Middle Eastern-looking Zohra Lampert, with the prominent cheek bones and soothing voicer, had a touching, understated quality to her talent that should have gone further in the film business than it did. Somehow she never got the breaks necessary for top-flight stardom. Still and all, this comely actress with soft, vulnerable features managed to contribute a number of genuinely affecting performances, particularly on TV.

Born in New York City on May 13, 1931, Zohra was the daughter of Russian-born hardware store owners. She attended Manhattan's High School of Music and Art and later graduated from the University of Chicago. A one-time member of Chicago's Second City comedy troupe, she had a stint with the Lincoln Center Repertory Theatre before turning to Broadway and making her 1958 debut in the play "Maybe Tuesday." She was quickly nominated for two consecutive Tony awards for her superb work in "Look: We've Come Through" (1961) and "Mother Courage and Her Children" (1963), then continued with poignant performances in such productions as "After the Fall" (1964), "Lovers and Other Strangers" (1968) and "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window" (1972).

Following occasional TV guest parts on such programs as "Ford Star Jubilee" and "Decoy," Zohra made a minor film debut in Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). She received much more attention with her humble, deeply stirring performance as Ernest Borgnine's Italian wife in the minor crime story Pay or Die! (1960), then quietly stole a touching scene towards the end of the film Splendor in the Grass (1961) from both Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty as Beatty's careworn spouse. Those two performances alone should have lifted her to the heights, but they didn't.

A chameleon-like actress who didn't quite fit into the Hollywood structure as a star personality, Lampert, perhaps because of her ethnic looks, was passed over in such films as Posse from Hell (1961) and Hey, Let's Twist! (1961), A Fine Madness (1966), Bye Bye Braverman (1968) and Some Kind of a Nut (1969). She did score with a neurotic title lead in the low-budgeted cult chiller Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971).

She seemed to favor the small screen for the most part in the 60's and 70's. She was performing primarily on the small screen in offbeat lead or character roles on such popular programs as "Route 66," "The Defenders," "United States Steel Hour," "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour," "Dr. Kildare," "Naked City," "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.," "I Spy," "Then Came Bronson," "Love, American Style," "The Bob Newhart Show," "Quincy" and an Emmy-winning guest performance as a gypsy in "Kojak." She also was a part of two short-lived series: The Girl with Something Extra (1973) starring Sally Field and Doctors' Hospital (1975).

Lampert graced several TV movies as a second lead or support player including Lady Oscar (1979), The Suicide's Wife (1979), The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980), The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite (1981) and Izzy & Moe (1985). In later years, she was reduced to featured status in films and found some earthy, quirky ladies to inhabit in such films as Alphabet City (1984), Teachers (1984), American Blue Note (1989), Stanley & Iris (1990), The Exorcist III (1990), Alan & Naomi (1992), Last Supper (1992) and The Eden Myth (1999).

Better remembered for her spokeswoman for the Goya Beans commercials in the 1980's, she left the screen willfully in the late 1990's for nearly a decade, but returned for only three films - The Hungry Ghosts (2009), Zenith (2010) and the barely seen Sexual Secrets (2014). She was married twice, divorcing "Second City" comedy co-founder Bill Alton and later marrying radio host and singer Jonathan Schwartz in 2010.
- IMDb mini biography by: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net

Zohra Lampert is an American actress, who has had roles on film, television, and stage, including as the title character in the 1971 cult film Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971). She also starred in the Splendor in the Grass (1961). Lampert achieved critical acclaim for her work on Broadway as well, earning two Tony Award nominations for her roles in Look What We've Come Through (1962) and Mother Courage and Her Children (1963). She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role in a 1975 episode of Kojak.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tango Papa

Was twice nominated for Broadway's Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) in the consecutive years of 1962, for "Look: We've Come Through," and in 1963, for "Mother Courage and Her Children."

Greatly encouraged in her early years as an actress by Charles Laughton, who frequently praised her talents to interviewers.

Met ex-husband Bill Alton while a member of Chicago's Second City troupe. Alton was one of the founding members.

Daughter-in-law of Arthur Schwartz.