| Toqa Hesham |
A Canadian actress, born in Vienna, as Zuzka Zenta Bursteinová. She won the Tony Award for Best Broadway Debut in 1946, the Drama Bench Award in 1974, the Canada Medal of the Arts in 1977, and the Woman of the Year Award in Toronto in 1979. Susan Douglas married actor, director, and producer Jan Rubeš (1950-2009), and they had three children. Her credits include The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947), Five (1951), and The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick (1988). Susan was born to a father of Austrian origin and a mother of Italian origin, and she was the only parent. They moved to a farm in Czechoslovakia, where they raised racehorses. Her parents would take her to the theater and the opera, and Susan would visit her maternal grandmother, who was the director of the Burgtheater. She began studying ballet at the age of eight in Prague, and when World War II broke out in 1939 and the Nazis attacked Czechoslovakia, she moved with her parents to Paris to escape the Nazi invasion. She immigrated with her mother to New York in 1940, and when she wanted to continue her studies in ballet due to her strong desire to become a ballet dancer, the founder of the New York City Ballet directed her to acting, which she also loved. She graduated from George Washington High School in 1943. She studied English (her fourth language) and became proficient in it. She went to Broadway theatres and had a successful career in the theatre. She presented more than 100 works in the period from 1946 to 1959. She made 10 films, the first of which was The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947). She was offered a tempting contract from MGM for 7 years, but she rejected the offer because she wanted to live in New York City. In 1963, she moved with her husband to Canada and was interested in presenting her plays in schools. She established the Young People's Theatre in Canada in 1965 and continued her television and radio work. In 1979, she became head of radio drama at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (C.B.C.), a member of the board of directors of the St. Lawrence Arts Center in Toronto and the Ontario Arts Council. She also headed the Canadian Family Channel. She died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 23, 2013.
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