Kazimira Kimantaite

Born June 29 (July 12), 1909, in Kuršėnai Šiauliai Raion. Soviet Lithuanian actress and director; People’s Artist of the Lithuanian SSR (1954). Member of the CPSU since 1945.

Kimantaite studied at a drama studio in Kaunas from 1929 to 1932. She began her stage career in 1932 at the State Theater of Drama in Kaunas. In 1933–34 she participated in the creation of the Theater for Young People. From 1934 to 1940 she worked with the Kaunas Drama Theater. She has worked with the Theater of Drama of the Lithuanian SSR in Vilnius since 1940. From 1942 to 1944 she was director of the song and dance ensemble of the Lithuanian SSR in Pereslavl’-Zalesskii.

Kimantaite’s best roles include Saart in The Death of “Hope” by Heijermans, Rukienė in The Cocks Are Crowing by BaltuĖis, Kaikarienė in The Drowned Woman (based on a work by Vienuolis), and Aksiusha in The Forest by Ostrovskii. She directed The Daughter-in-law (1945; based on a work by Žemaitė), Žaldokas’ Farmstead (1948, by Dauguvietis), The Truth of Blacksmith Ignotas (1950, by Gudaitis-Guzevičius), The Drowned Woman (1956; State Prize of the Lithuanian SSR, 1957); Blood and Ashes (1961; based on a work by Marcinkevičius), The Master and His Sons (1965; based on a work by Cvirka), Alarm and The Orator, the Maniac, and the Prophet Jonah (1962 and 1967, by Saia), and Lend Your Tears (1969, by Rimkevičius). Kimantaite has been awarded three orders and various medals.