Jacques Cohen And `The Big Restaurant` Cast In Israel Editorial Image

Israeli stage, screen and television actor Jacques Cohen, seated, poses with his tv castmates from the popular Israeli sitcom, `Ha-Mis-ada Hagdola,` in English, `The Big Restaurant,` in 1986. The unique show was a multi-cultural, hilarious, hi-energy, frenetic production with dialogue and subtitles in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.` Cohen was born in 1930 to a Jewish- Egyptian family in Alexandria, Egypt. When he was a child of 5 the family emigrated to then British Mandate Palestine, but it was often possible to understand the plot and even some particulars since slapstick was frequently employed. Cohen played the role of the intense and harried,`Abu Rahmi,` the restauranteur in charge of the comic circus during which actors playing tourists visiting the fictitious, presumably East Jerusalem eatery joined in the frenetic misadventures. The show was popular during its 3-year run, from 1985-1988 not only in Israel, among Arab and Jewish viewers, but also in neighboring Jordan, and internationally, even in far-flung Australia. Cohen appeared in the American action film, `Delta Force,` portraying a Lebanese government minister. Toward the end of his life, Cohen actually purchased and ran a restaurant of his own. A beloved national entertainment figure, he died from pneumonia complications at a hospital in Rehovot, Israel on December 1, 2016, at the age of 86. His co-stars were Israeli-Arab actors. Gassan Abbas, top left, plays the romantically-inclined head waiter, `Abdu.` Bassam Zuamat, top center, plays the intense chef, `Hakim.` Hallil Halladi, right, plays `Ma`aruf,` a waiter who communicates in sign language, which he studied and mastered for the role.