Faina Ranevskaya

Faina Georgiyevna Ranevskaya(Russian:Фаина Георгиевна Раневская, bornFaina Girschevna Feldman, 27 August [O.S.15 August] 1896 — 19 July 1984) was a Soviet actress. She is recognized as one of the greatest Soviet actresses in both tragedy and comedy.She was also famous for heraphorisms.
She acted in plays byAnton Chekhov,Alexander Ostrovsky,Maxim Gorky,Ivan Krylov,Fyodor Dostoevsky,Leo Tolstoy, and others.
She was born as Faina Feldman (Фельдман) to a wealthyJewishfamily in the city ofTaganrog,Russian Empire. Her father, Girsch Haimovich Feldman, owned a dry-ink factory, several buildings, a shop and the steamboat "Saint Nicolas". He was the head of Taganrogsynagogueand a founder of a Jewish asylum for the aged. Faina's mother, Milka Rafailovna (née Zagovaylova), was a great admirer of literature and art. That and her passion for Chekhov influenced Faina's love of art, poetry, music, and theater. There were three other children in the family - two brothers and an older sister named Bella.
Faina Feldman attended the elementary school classes at theMariinskaya Gymnasium for Girls, and then received regular home education. She was given music, singing, foreign languages lessons. Faina loved reading.
Her passion for theater began when she was 14. Her attendance of Chekhov'sThe Cherry Orchardat theMoscow Art Theatrewas an experience that had great impact on her. Herpseudonym"Ranevskaya", which later became her official surname, also came from that theater visit.
In 1915 she left Taganrog forMoscowto pursue a career in the theater. Faina became estranged from her family over her choice of career, which they apparently rejected. She started as an extra actor in crowd or background scenes at the Summer Theater inMalakhovkanear Moscow in 1915, where she also had a dacha.
The Feldman family emigrated in 1917, but Faina decided to stay and continued her acting career, working in the theaters ofKerch,Rostov-on-Don, at the mobile theater "The First Soviet Theater" inCrimea, also inBaku,Arkhangelsk,Smolenskand other cities.
In 1931 Ranevskaya acted at theChamber Theater.
The filmPyshka(known asBoule de Suifin the U.S.), directed byMikhail Romm, marked her debut as a film actress in 1934. It was a silent black and white film based on the novelBoule de SuifbyGuy de Maupassant, in which she starred as Madame Loiseau. Although the film was silent, Ranevskaya learned several sayings of Madame Loiseau inFrenchfrom the original novel by Maupassant.Romain Rolland, a French writer who visited theSoviet Unionin the 1930s, loved the film, and his favorite actor in the movie was Faina Ranevskaya.
At his request, thePyshka(Boule de Suif) was shown in French cinemas, where it became a box-office success. Ranevskaya played on stage of theCentral Academic Theatre of the Russian Army(1935-1939), Drama Theater, nowMayakovsky Theatre(1943-1949),Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre(1955-1963), and finallyMossovet Theatre(1949-1955, 1963-1983), where she worked withYuri Zavadsky.
The actress was awarded theStalin Prizefor outstanding creative achievements on stage in 1949, and in 1951 for her work in the filmU nih est' Rodina(They Have Their Motherland), directed by Vladimir Legoshin and Alexandre Feinzimmer. In 1961 Faina Ranevskaya was awarded the title ofPeople's Artist of the USSR.
The actress died in 1984 in Moscow and was buried at theDonskoye Cemetery. A memorial plate dedicated to Ranevskaya was placed on her birthhouse in the city of Taganrog on August 29, 1986.
In 1992 British "Who's Who" encyclopedia named Ranevskaya among the world's Top Ten Actors of the 20th century. That was done despite the fact that the actress had never played a major part in a movie: all her roles were supporting ones.In a newspaper article, one of the Soviet movie industry apparatchiks explained her lack of main roles by Faina Ranevskaya's"typical Semitic" facial features.
On May 16, 2008, aRanevskaya Monumentwas inaugurated in Taganrog in front of actress's birth house on Ulitsa Frunze 10 within the framework of the International Ranevskaya Theater Festival "The Great Province".
In 2017 it was announced that Faina Ranevskaya's birth house in Taganrog will re-open its doors as a museum.