Maria Babanova

Maria Ivanovna Babanova (Мария Ивановна Бабанова; 11 November 1900 – 4 April 1983) was a Russian stage and film star. She has been described as Vsevolod Meyerhold's greatest actress^[1] and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1954.

Babanova made her debut in Theodore Komisarjevsky's theatre in 1919. A year later, she joined Vsevolod Meyerhold's acting courses. Described as "a small, radiant, energetic actor",^[2] Babanova captivated the Moscow public in Meyerhold's production of The Magnanimous Cuckold (1922).

The three leading players, Igor Ilinsky, Maria Babanova and Vasily Zaichikov were so in harmony they became known collectively as 'Il-Ba-Zai'.^[3] Babanova was viewed as the first great actress to emerge after the October Revolution. A typical review of her acting read as follows:^[4]

Today no one knows her name but tomorrow she will be hailed as the first of a new galaxy of young actresses. Actresses magically born and reared amidst an arid expanse of wooden constructions, under the piercing gaze of a spotlight on a bare stage - stripped of curtains, wings, of all the mysteries of the old theatre. Actresses who owe that theatre nothing.

Babanova's triumphs allegedly aroused the jealousy of Meyerhold's wife, Zinaida Reich. In 1927, Babanova was forced to leave Meyerhold's troupe, as major female roles went to Reich and she felt underemployed. Babanova excelled at the Mayakovsky Theatre in the roles of children and adolescents. She retired from acting in 1975, and died in 1983, aged 82.

Filmography

Mariya was the original voice of the 1957 Snow Queen.

• Goluboy meteorit (1971) (TV) (voice) (as M. I. Babanova) .... Narrator
• The Snow Queen (voice only) "The Snow Queen"
• V nekotorom tsarstve (1957; voice)
• Sestritsa Alyonushka i bratets Ivanushka (1953; TV)
• Gusi-lebedi (1949)
• Alone (1931 film)
• Serdtsa i dollary (1924)
• Elder Vasili Gryaznov (1924)

References

External links

• Maria Babanova at the Internet Movie Database