Evdokiia Turchaninova

Born Mar. 2 (14), 1870, in Moscow; died there Dec. 27, 1963. Soviet Russian actress. People’s Artist of the USSR (1943).

In 1891, Turchaninova completed drama courses at the Moscow Theatrical School, where her teacher was A. P. Lenskii, and joined the Malyi Theater. She began as a character and travesty actress, performing, for example, as Tania in L. N. Tolstoy’s The Fruits of Enlightenment and Cherubino in Beaumarchais’s The Marriage of Figaro. The typically Russian flavor of her acting, her brilliant mastery of Russian speech, and her knowledge of the old way of life helped her perform approximately 70 roles in the plays of A. N. Ostrovskii with particular success.

In Soviet times, Turchaninova introduced elements of social critique and satirical coloring into a number of roles from her own prerevolutionary repertoire. Her best roles in plays by Ostrovskii were Poliksena and Mavra Tarasovna in Truth Is Good, But Happiness Is Better, Cheboksarova in Easy Money, Ustin’ia Naumovna in It’s a Family Affair, We’ll Settle It Among Ourselves, and Murzavetskaia in Wolves and Sheep. Turchaninova also appeared as Bogaevskaia in Gorky’s The Barbarians, Mrs. Higgins in Shaw’s Pygmalion, and Gornostaeva in Trenev’s Liubov’ Iarovaia.

Turchaninova received the State Prize of the USSR in 1943 and 1948. She was also awarded two orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.