Faina Ranevskaya
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Ranevskaya as Lyalya in The Foundling (1940). The phrase "Mulya, don't get me nervous!" that made the film famous, was her own invention. |
Faina Ranevskaya () (
August 27 (
O.S. August 15),
1896 -
July 19,
1984) is recognized as one of the greatest comic actors of the 20th Century. She acted in plays by
Anton Chekhov,
Alexandr Ostrovsky,
Maxim Gorky,
Ivan Krylov,
Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Leo Tolstoy, and others. Unfortunately, we can judge about her theater performances only by photos as only three final performances of
Make Way for Tomorrow by Vina Delmar,
Truth is Good, but Happiness is Better by
Alexandr Ostrovsky,
The Curious Savage by
John Patrick were filmed. Faina Ranevskaya is more known to a wide audience as a cinema actress by her performance in such films as
Pyshka (
Boule de Suif),
The Man in a Shell,
Mechta (
Dream),
Vesna (
Spring),
Zolushka (
Cinderella),
Elephant and String and many more.
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Birthhouse of Faina Ranevskaya in Taganrog. ©TaganrogCity.Com |
Faina Ranevskaya was born in the city of
Taganrog in a wealthy
Jewish family. Her father, Girsch Haimovich Feldman, owned a dry-ink factory, several buildings, a shop and the steamboat "Saint Nicolas". He was the head of Taganrog
synagogue and a founder of Jewish asylum for the aged. Faina's mother, Milka Rafailovna (née Zagovaylova), was an ecstatic personality, great admirer of literature and art, and passionate worshipper of Chekhov. It seems that Faina inherited from her wisdom, artistic feeling, and love to poetry, music, and theatre. There were three other children in the family - two brothers and the elder sister Bella.
Faina Feldmann attended the elementary school classes at the Mariinskaya 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. The strongest impact had her attendance of Chekhov's
The Cherry Orchard onstage of the
Moscow Art Theater. The
pseudonym Ranevskaya is also due to this theater visit, and later became her official last name. When Faina told her parents about her wish to become an actress, it caused a scandal and their relations were broken. In
1915 the girl left Taganrog for
Moscow as she was determined to pursue a theater career. She started with extra actor in crowd or background scenes at the Malakhov Summer Theater near Moscow in 1915. The Feldman family emigrated in
1917, but Faina decided to stay and worked in the theaters of
Kerch,
Rostov on Don, at the mobile theater "The First Soviet Theater" in
Crimea, also in
Baku,
Arkhangelsk,
Smolensk and other cities.
In
1931 Ranevskaya became an actress at the
Camera Theater. The film
Pyshka(known as
Boule de Suif in the U.S.), directed by
Mikhail Romm marked her debut as a film actress in
1934. It was a silent black and white film based on the novel
Boule de Suif by
Guy de Maupassant where starred as Madame Loiseau. Although the film was silent, Ranevskaya learned several sayings of Madame Loiseau in
French from the original novel by Maupassant.
Romain Rolland, French writer who visited
Soviet Union in the thirties loved the film, and his favorite actor in the movie was Faina Ranevskaya. At his request, the
Pyshka (
Boule de Suif) was shown in French cinemas, and made a box-office success. Ranevskaya played on stage of the
Central Theater of Red Army (1935-1939), Drama Theater, now
Mayakovsky Theater (1943-1949),
Pushkin Theater (1955-1963), and finally
Mossovet Theater (1949-1955, 1963-1983), where she worked with
Yury Zavadsky.
The actress was awarded
USSR State Prizes in
1949 for outstanding creative achievements on theater stage, and in
1951 as an actress for the film
U nih est' Rodina (
They Have Their Motherland), directed by Vladimir Legoshin and Alexandre Feinzimmer. In
1961 Faina Ravevskaya received the title of the
People's Artist of the USSR. The actress died in 1984 in Moscow and was buried at the
Donskoe Cemetery. A memorial plate dedicated to Ranevskaya was placed on her birthhouse in the city of Taganrog on August 29,
1986.
* 1934
Pyshka (
Boule de Suif)
* 1938
Duma Pro Kozaka Holotu (
The Tale of Cossack Holota)
* 1939
Chelovek V Futlyare (
The Man in a Shell)
* 1939
Oshibka Inzhenyera Kochina (
The Mistake of the Engineer Kochin)
* 1939
Podkidysh (
The Foundling)
* 1941
Mechta (
The Dream)
* 1943
Novye Pokhozhdeniya Shveyka (
The New Adventures of Schweik)
* 1944
Svadba (
The Wedding)
* 1945
Nebesnyy Tikhokhod (
Celestial Slow-Walker)
* 1947
Ryadovoy Aleksandr Matrosov (
Private Alexandr Matrosov)
* 1947
Vesna (
Spring) - see
Lyubov Orlova,
Nikolai Cherkasov* 1947
Zolushka (
Cinderella)
* 1949
Vstrecha Na Elbe (
Meeting on the Elba)
* 1958
Devushka S Gitaroy (
The Girl With Guitar)
* 1960
Ostorozhno, Babushka! (
Watch Out, Grandma!)
* 1964
Legkaya Zhizn (
Easy Life)
* 1965
Segodnya - Novyy Attraktsion (
Today - New Side Show)
*"Success is the only unforgivable sin against your neighbor."
*"It is a shame to confess but among all living creatures only man doesn't know what is useful for him."
*"Optimism is lack of information."
*"My fortune is in the fact that I don't need it."
*"I've been smart enough to have lived my life stupidly."
*"A real man is one who remembers the lady's birthday, but never knows how old she is. A man who never remembers her birthday, but knows exactly how old she is, - is her husband."
*"Family can replace everything. So, before starting a family, one should think what's more important: family or everything."
*"Like all people in love, I was obnoxious and stupid, threatened suicide...And the one I was supposed to make worry only giggled."
*"Aleshenka (a boy's name), when you get married you'll understand what the happiness is. But it will be too late."
*"Beauty is an awesome power."
*"It has always been incomprehensible for me: people are ashamed of the poverty but aren't ashamed of the wealth."
* "Doorbell doesn't work, when you come, knock the door with feet. - Why feet?! - I hope you won't come to me empty-handed!"
