Zhilina, Elena Efimovna

Born Apr. 27 (May 9), 1890, in Kazan; died Jan. 29, 1963, in Vinnitsa. Russian Soviet actress, People’s Artist of the USSR (1957).

In 1922, Zhilina graduated from a theatrical studio in Kazan and joined the company of the Kazan Bolshoi Dramatical Theater. From 1936 to 1942 she acted in the Arkhangelsk Theater, returning to the Kazan Theater in 1942. Zhilina was successful in comedy roles: Karaulova (Another’s Child by Shkvarkin), the Duenna (The Day of Miraculous Deceits by Sheridan), Felitsata and Domna Pantelevna (The Truth Is Good, But Happiness Is Better and Talents and Admirers by Ostrovskii), and Korobochka and Anna Andreevna (Dead Souls and The Inspector-General by Gogol). Zhilina was also successful in profoundly dramatic and heroic roles. She played Maria Nikolaevna in Simonov’s The Russian People and Anna Nikolaevna Talanova in Leonov’s The Invasion. One of her best roles in the contemporary repertoire was that of Lagutina in Afinogenov’s The Mother of Her Children. She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a medal.