| Christina Aziz |
Ukrainian-born American actor, born on September 22, 1895 in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire (present day Lviv, Ukraine) as Meshilem Meier Weisenfreund. He won an Oscar in 1937 for The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), and a NYFCC Award in 1937 for The Life of Emile Zola (1937). In 1960, he received a star on the Walk of Fame. He married Bella Muni (1921-1967). They remained married until Muni's death on August 25, 1967 in Montecito, California, USA.
Born into a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family, Muni was educated at public schools in New York and Cleveland. In 1908, he joined the Yiddish Art Theatre in New York for 4 years and moved between several Yiddish theaters until 1926. He worked in English-language plays, signed a contract with Fox to work in the cinema in 1928, and moved between Hollywood and Broadway.
He excelled in cinema and theater, but limited his work later due to a serious eye ailment causing deterioration in his eyesight. He suffered from heart problems, which forced him to retire in the late fifties. Among his most important works are Scarface (1932), I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), and The Life of Emile Zola (1937).
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