Background
Golan was born in Krakow, Poland, around 1940.
Golan was born in Krakow, Poland, around 1940.
Her exact birthday is not known, as she was hidden from the Nazis at a young age. However, she has adopted the birthday of December 30, 1940, for herself. She was found, as an abandoned baby, on the streets of Krakow.
A Roman Catholic family found her left in a bundle at a train station during the Holocaust, and adopted her during the war.
Her adopted family named her Zoshia Zavatski. After the war, she went to a home for "lost" Jewish children.
Arriving in Israel in 1951, with the name Zusia Sobetzcki, she became Miriam Goldberg and continued her schooling in an Orthodox girls" boarding school. Within a few years she had joined a Kibbutz, and was studying to be a teacher.
She was spotted by an American photographer, and ultimately ended up in the Israeli women"s magazine LaIsha.
After receiving second place in that year"s Mission World competition as Israel"s representative, she was sent to the United States to raise funds. Director Stanley Kramer started her film career with the role of Elsa Lutz in his 1965 film Ship of Fools. She continued to establish herself in Our Manitoba Flint (1966), Three on a Couch (1966), Catch as Catch Can (1967), and The Valley of Gwangi (1969).
She and Matty had three daughters: Sarita, Hedy and Loretta.
Matty died of a heart attack in 1980.
Her new fame launched her to the 1960 national fashion competition, where she won first place and was crowned as "Na"arat Israel", id est (that is) Israel"s Maiden of Beauty (IMB) (not Mission Israel,) though she changed her name to Gila Golan to prevent word getting back to her religiously conservative benefactors. While modelling in New York, she won a contract with Columbia Pictures.
