Dina Halpern; Star of Jewish Theater

Dina Halpern, 79, a longtime star of the Jewish theater. Miss Halpern performed in hundreds of Yiddish plays and operettas in Europe and the United States. She also was featured in the films “The Dybbuk” and “The Vow.” As founder and artistic director of the Chicago Yiddish Theater Assn., Miss Halpern guided annual productions of classic plays between 1960 and 1970. She also starred with and directed theater companies in England, France, Israel, Argentina, Australia, Brazil and Uruguay. A native of Warsaw, Miss Halpern was the niece of famed Jewish actress Ida Kaminska. She left Poland before World War II to perform in New York, and the war prevented her from returning home. Her immediate family--including her father, two brothers and two sisters--died in Nazi death camps. In Chicago on Saturday.