Constantin Stanislavski
In the course of her 50-year career, Yermolova particularly excelled in the roles which allowed her to "emphasize her independence of spirit and her popular heroism in defiance of corrupt authority", as the Encyclopædia Britannica put it. Her contemporary and fellow Russian actor Constantin Stanislavski proclaimed her the greatest actress he had ever observed, thus placing her above Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse.