Zueva, Anastasiia Platonovna

Born Dec. 5 (17), 1896, in the village of Spasskoe, in present-day Tula Oblast. Russian Soviet actress. People’s Artist of the USSR (1957).

Zueva graduated from drama school in 1915 under the guidance of N. G. Aleksandrov, N. O. Massalitinov, and N. A. Podgornyi and entered the Second Studio of the Moscow Art Academic Theater. In 1916 she began acting with the Moscow Art Theater. A keen character actress, Zueva has usually played elderly women, endowing them with the folksiness and spriritual warmth typical of the Russian national character.

Her major roles include the Mother (Untilovsk by Leonov), Matrena (Resurrection, based on L. N. Tolstoy), Korobochka (Dead Souls, based on Gogol), Domna Pantelevna (Talents and Admirers by Ostrovskii), Zobunova and Chugunova (Egor Bulychev and the Others and Dostigaev and the Others by Gorky), Miss Wardle (The Pickwick Club, based on Dickens), Feklusha and Ulita (The Storm and The Forest by Ostrovskii), Marfa (The Earth by Virta), Glafira Firsovna (The Last Victim by Ostrovskii), and Anfisa (The Three Sisters by Chekhov). She also appears on the estrada (the variety stage) and on radio. She was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1952. She has received two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Badge of Honor, and medals.