Caroline Langford, the British-born actress who became a familiar face in Israeli cinema in the 1980s and was married to the late actor and director Assi Dayan, died at the age of 68 after suffering from cancer on Friday.
Born in London in 1958, Langford was the daughter of British television director Barry Langford and moved to Israel with her family when she was 14.
After beginning her career as a singer and entertaining soldiers during her army service, she became one of the best-known actresses in Israeli popular cinema of the period.
She appeared in several of the hugely popular hidden-camera prank movies associated with Yehuda Barkan and Yigal Shilon, among them Smile, You’ve Been Had (Hayeh, Ahaltah Otah), We’ll Meet Around the Bend (Nipagesh Basivuv), and We’ll Meet at the Beach (Nipagesh Bahof).
Her other Israeli films included Nadav Levitan’s Girls (Banot), A Crazy Dad (Shigaon Shel Abba), and Dayan’s Am Yisrael Hai. She also had a role in the popular Menahem Golan action movie The Delta Force, with Chuck Norris and Lee Marvin.
One of her most significant roles was the female lead in Dayan’s 1982 film King for a Day (Melech LeYom Ehad). Langford won the Kinor David Award for Best Actress for her performance, one of the most prestigious awards for acting in this era.
The film also changed her personal life. Langford and Dayan, the son of former Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan, fell in love during the production and later married.
Their son, writer and television personality Leore Dayan, has described himself as literally a “product of Israeli film,” recalling that the romance between his parents began between takes on King for a Day.
Langford and Dayan eventually divorced, although their relationship and their often-turbulent family life remained the subject of intense public interest for years. Dayan died in 2014.
Langford leaves Israel during postpartum depression
As Dayan struggled with mental health and substance abuse issues, she left Israel, placing Leore in foster care when he was very young.
She spoke in interviews about feeling guilty about this choice and that she now understands she suffered from postpartum depression, adding that she and her son eventually became close.
Leore made a television series, Normal, about his own mental-health issues in 2020, and she portrayed the mother of the character based on him.
Langford, Dayan had a 'good relationship' recently
She also said that she and Dayan eventually had a good relationship after their divorce.
“We had a very good relationship in recent years. I met him every time I came to Israel. The last time I saw Assi, we talked about how we had become grandparents. He was very happy about it,” she told Ynet in an interview.
Langford eventually settled in Los Angeles, and remarried. She continued to work periodically in Israeli television. Among her later appearances was a role in the comedy series Sisters.
In 2025, she published a novel, Walking on Eggshells, about a 16-year-old girl in 1950s London who falls for a charming but dangerous man.
She is survived by her husband, Gil Bankstein, her son Leore Dayan, and her daughter, Daniela.