Maria Ouspenskaya
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Maria Ouspenskaya
Biography
One of the most dynamic, and tiniest, of character actresses, Russian-born Maria Ouspenskaya had originally dreamed of an operatic career. She studied in both Warsaw and Moscow until money ran out, then switched gears and decided to concentrate on acting. Though she was past 30 when she entered Adasheff's School of Drama, Mme. Ouspenskaya was the school's most energetic and ambitious pupil; after graduation, she toured Russia in stock company, no mean feat in those pre-airplane days, then starred with the Moscow Art Theatre of Konstantin Stanislavsky. The Revolution and the famine that followed only strengthened her reserve to make something of herself. Remaining as a performing and instructor with the Moscow Art Theatre after the Communist takeover, the actress toured Europe and America, settling in the latter country for good in 1924. A fellow Stansilavsky pupil, Richard Boleslawsky, found work for Ouspenskaya on the faculty of the American Laboratory Theatre; She branched out to form her own acting school in 1929. Maria's role as the wise old mother of a titled fortune hunter in the stage play Dodsworth led to her recreation of the role in Sam Goldwyn's 1936 film version. Thereafter, if a wizened matriarch of any nationality was required for a movie - French, Polish, East Indian - Mme. Oupenskaya was among the first to be called upon. Despite her steady work in A-pictures, it was for a medium-budget horror film that she is best remembered today. In The Wolf Man (1941), it is Ouspenskaya as mournful gypsy woman Maleva who breaks the news that poor Lon Chaney Jr. has been bitten by a werewolf; the actress' chilling recital of the famed Wolf Man curse ("Even a man who is pure at heart, and says his prayers by night") is enough to give adult viewers nightmares. She repeated the role in Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943), to which she brought the same degree of artistry that she invested in such prestigious assignments as King's Row (1942). While her earlier deprivations in Russia had made her nearly impervious to illness and infirmity, Maria Ouspenskaya was unable to survive one of mankind's oldest scourges. In 1949, she fell asleep while smoking a cigarette in bed; the resultant fire led to her death from burns and a stroke at age 73. ~ Hal Erickson, RoviFilmography:
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Maria Ouspenskaya
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Maria Ouspenskaya
| Maria Ouspenskaya | |
|---|---|
 in Love Affair (1939) |
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| Born | Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya July 29, 1876 Tula, Russian Empire |
| Died | December 3, 1949 (aged 73) Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actress Acting teacher |
| Years active | 1915–1949 |
Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya (Russian: Мария Алeкceeвнa Успенская; July 29, 1876, – December 3, 1949) was a Russian actress and acting teacher.[1] She achieved success as a stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films.[2]
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Contents
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Life and career
Ouspenskaya was born in Tula, Russian Empire and studied singing in Warsaw, Poland and acting in Moscow. She was a founding member of the First Studio, a theatre studio of the world-famous Moscow Art Theatre.[3] There she was trained by Konstantin Stanislavski and his assistant Leopold Sulerzhitsky in the 'system'.[4]
The Moscow Art Theatre traveled widely throughout Europe, and when it arrived in New York in 1922, Ouspenskaya decided to stay there. She performed regularly on Broadway over the next decade. She taught acting at the American Laboratory Theatre [5] and in 1929, together with her colleague from Moscow Art Theatre Richard Boleslavsky,[citation needed] she founded the School of Dramatic Art in New York.[5] One of Ouspenskaya's students at the school during this period was Anne Baxter, then an unknown teenager.
Although she had appeared in a few Russian silent films many years earlier, Ouspenskaya stayed away from Hollywood until her school's financial problems forced her to look for ways to repair her finances. According to ads from Popular Song magazine in the 1930s, around this time Ouspenskaya also opened the "Maria Ouspenskaya School of Dance" on Vine Street in Los Angeles. There, one of her famous pupils included Marge Champion (who was the model for Disney's Snow White.) [6]
In spite of her pronunciation of the English language being markedly inflected with a Yiddish accent, Ouspenskaya found work in Hollywood films predominately playing European characters of various national origins. Her first Hollywood role in Dodsworth (1936) brought her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[7] She received a second nomination in 1939 for her role in Love Affair.[8] She strongly portrayed Maleva, a sinister old Gypsy fortuneteller in the horror films The Wolf Man (1941) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943). Her other successes included The Rains Came (1939), Waterloo Bridge (1940), Beyond Tomorrow (1940), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), The Mortal Storm (1940), and Kings Row (1942).
Ouspenskaya died several days after suffering a stroke and receiving severe burns in a house fire, which she allegedly caused by falling asleep while smoking a cigarette.[5][9] She was buried in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.[10]
References
- ^ Robinson (2007, 81) and Nissen (2006, 141).
- ^ Obituary Variety, December 7, 1949; page 63.
- ^ Benedetti (1999, 210).
- ^ Benedetti (1999, 209-211).
- ^ a b c Smith, Ronald L. (2010). Horror Stars on Radio: The Broadcast Histories of 29 Chilling Hollywood Voices. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-4525-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=1_-EtQwxAP4C&pg=PA203.
- ^ King, Susan (September 30, 2009). "Marge Champion still has the dance moves". The Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/30/entertainment/et-classic-hollywood30.
- ^ Robinson (2007, 81).
- ^ "Academy list its selections". The Palm Beach Post: p. 9. 1940-02-12. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0SoyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LbYFAAAAIBAJ&dq=maria%20ouspenskaya&pg=1209%2C4326650.
- ^ "Fag Blamed For Actress' Death". Tri City Herald: p. 3. 1949-12-04. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rI4kAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a-IFAAAAIBAJ&dq=maria%20ouspenskaya&pg=3647%2C4172751.
- ^ Mank, Gregory W. (McFarland & Co.). Women in Horror Films, 1940s. 1999. pp. 95.
Sources
- Benedetti, Jean. 1999. Stanislavski: His Life and Art. Revised edition. Original edition published in 1988. London: Methuen. ISBN 0-413-52520-1.
- Robinson, Harlow. 2007. Russians in Hollywood, Hollywood's Russians: Biography of an Image. Boston: Northeastern UP. ISBN 978-1-55553-686-2.
- Nissen, Axel. 2006. Actresses of a Certain Character: Forty Familiar Hollywood Faces from the Thirties to the Fifties. Illustrated ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. ISBN 978-0-7864-2746-8.
External links
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