When Rita Zohar stepped into the role of Bessie Stern, a Holocaust survivor whose death sets in motion Scarlett Johansson’s new film “Eleanor the Great,” she wasn’t simply acting.

Zohar, 81, is a childhood survivor of the Holocaust. She was also drawing on her lived experience of loss and resilience to bring life to her character.

“This role in this movie has given me a voice,” Zohar told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Even though this is not my story, this is not what happened to me or my family, but still, by being able to verbalize it, I connected to Bessie, and I became Bessie in the film.”

“Eleanor the Great,” Johansson’s directorial debut, stars 95-year-old Jewish actress June Squibb as she seeks connection in New York City following the death of her best friend Bessie. Feeling i

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