Leshkovskaia, Elena

(stage name of E. K. Liashkovskaia). Born in 1864 in Egor’evsk; died June 12, 1925, in Moscow. Russian actress; People’s Artist of the Republic (1924).

Leshkovskaia graduated in 1888 from the School of Music and Drama of the Moscow Philharmonic Society (where she studied with O. A. Pravdin) and joined the Malyi Theater troupe. A brilliant comedy actress, Leshkovskaia played such society “predators,” coquettes, and intriguantes as Glafira and Lidiia Cheboksarova in Ostrovskii’s Wolves and Sheep and Mad Money. She brought subtle humor, femininity, elegance, and charm to the roles of Diana (The Gardener’s Dog by Lope de Vega), Katharine (The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare), and Lady Teazle (The School for Scandal by Sheridan).

Leshkovskaia also acted in works by modern playwrights (for example, A. I. Sumbatov), portraying her contemporaries on stage. Two of her roles during the Soviet period were Gurmyzh-skaia and Turusina in Ostrovskii’s The Forest and Even a Wise Man Stumbles.