Galina Nikolaevna Zagurskaia

Born Apr. 27, 1905, in Irkutsk. Soviet Russian actress; People’s Artist of the USSR since 1969; People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR since 1944.

Zagurskaia graduated from the Irkutsk Ballet School and made her debut with the Irkutsk Opera in 1921. In 1932 she began performing as a dramatic actress in the theaters of Yaroslavl, Vladivostok, Irkutsk, and other cities. In 1937 she joined the company of the M. Gorky Theater of Russian Drama in Tashkent. Her best roles include Anna Karenina in a play based on L. N. Tolstoy’s novel of that name, Dzhamilia in Lord and Laborer by Khamza, Filumena in Filumena Marturano by De Filippo, Kruchinina in Guilty Though Guiltless and luliia Tugina in The Last Sacrifice by Ostrovskii, Ranevskaia in The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov, Tat’iana in The Enemies by Gorky, the Proprietress in The Rocky Nest by Wuolijoki, Maisara in Maisara’s Pranks by Khamza, Mrs. Savage in The Curious Savage by Patrick, and Solomonida in The Serious Accusation by Sheinin. She was a deputy to the sixth convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR. She has been awarded the Order of Lenin and two other orders, as well as medals.