Anastasia (1956)

***Anastasia*** is a 1956 American period drama film directed by Anatole Litvak and written by Arthur Laurents. Set in interwar France, the film follows a plot related to rumors that the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of the late Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, survived the execution of her family in 1918. Russian General Bounine (Yul Brynner), former leader of the White Army during the Russian Revolution, along with his associates plot to swindle an inheritance of £10 million from the Grand Duchess using an amnesiac (Ingrid Bergman) who looks remarkably like the missing Anastasia. The exiled émigrés of the Russian aristocracy, in particular the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna (Helen Hayes) of Denmark, must be convinced that their handpicked claimant is legitimate if the plotters are to get her money.

*Anastasia* was adapted from a 1952 play written by Guy Bolton and Marcelle Maurette. He was inspired by the story of Anna Anderson, the best known of the many Anastasia impostors who emerged after the Imperial family were murdered in July 1918.

## Shooting

* Filming was done around June 6th, 1956.

## Cast

* Ingrid Bergman - Anna Koreff
* Yul Brynner - General Sergei Pavlovich Bounine
* Helen Hayes - Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna
* Akim Tamiroff - Boris Adreivich Chernov
* Martita Hunt - Baroness Elena von Livenbaum
* Felix Aylmer - Chamberlain
* Sacha Pitoëff - Piotr Ivanovich Petrovin (as Sacha Pitoeff)
* Ivan Desny - Prince Paul von Haraldberg
* Natalie Schafer - Irina Lissemskaia
* Grégoire Gromoff - Stepan (as Gregoire Gromoff)
* Karel Stepanek - Mikhail Vlados
* Ina De La Haye - Marusia (as Ina de la Haye)
* Katherine Kath - Maxime

**Rest of cast listed alphabetically:**

* John Adams - Servant (uncredited)
* Paul Beradi - Man in Bar (uncredited)
* Paul Bildt
* Newton Blick - Maître d' (uncredited)
* Ernest Blyth - Ballet Patron (uncredited)
* Alexis Bobrinskoy - Bechmetieff (uncredited)
* Marguerite Brennan - Marguerite (uncredited)
* Paula Catton - Jean (uncredited)
* Pauline Chamberlain - Woman at the Tivoli (uncredited)
* Allan Cuthbertson - Blonde Man (uncredited)
* Ivor Dean - Blonde Lady's Husband (uncredited)
* Maroussia Dimitrevitch - Gypsy Singer (uncredited)
* Edward Forsyth - Footman (uncredited)
* Otto Friese - Lift Attendant (uncredited)
* Melvyn Hayes
* Hy Hazell - Blonde Lady (uncredited)
* John G. Heller - Reporter (uncredited)
* Tutte Lemkow - Kasbek Dancer (uncredited)
* André Mikhelson - Older Man (uncredited)
* Richard Neller - Servant (uncredited)
* Nora Nicholson - Lady-in-Waiting (uncredited)
* Polycarpe Pavloff - Schischkin (uncredited)
* Dido Plumb - Churchgoer (uncredited)
* Eric Pohlmann - Von Drivnitz (uncredited)
* Olaf Pooley - Zhadanov (uncredited)
* George Pravda - Danish Customs Officer (uncredited)
* Peter Sallis - Grischa (uncredited)
* Tamara Shayne - Zenia (uncredited)
* Anatole Smirnoff - Kasbek Dancer (uncredited)
* Paddy Smith - Waiter (uncredited)
* George Spence - Reception Guest (uncredited)
* Emile Stemmler - Waiter (uncredited)
* Olga Valéry - Countess Baranova (uncredited)
* Henri Vidon - Prince Bolkonoski (uncredited)
* John Wilder - Guest (uncredited)
* Stanley Zevic - Empress' Cossack (uncredited)