Artmane, Via

(real name, Alida Fritsevna Artmane). Born Aug. 21, 1929. Soviet Latvian actress. People’s Artist of the USSR (1969).

In 1949, Artmane graduated from the studio of the Rainis Art Theater in Riga, and she was accepted into the theater’s company. Among her roles are Ophelia and Juliet in Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet and Laimdota in Rainis’ Fire and Night. Artmane has also acted in motion pictures, where her best roles were Datse (Beyond the Swanlike Flock of Clouds, 1957), Sonia (Native Blood, 1964), Ona (Nobody Wanted to Die, 1966), and Kristina (Edgar and Kristina, 1967). As an actress, Artmane creates lyric, soft, feminine characters; her heroines are self-sacrificing, kind, and poetic. Artmane has been awarded the Badge of Honor.