Granovskaya E.M., (1877-1968), actress

Categories / Art/Music, Theatre/Personalia
GRANOVSKAYA Elena Mavrikievna (1877-1968, Leningrad), actress, People's Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1944). Graduated from Annenschule (1895). From 1896, she was included in performances by the Vasileostrovsky District Theatre. Started her professional stage career in 1898 at a theatre in Ozerki. In 1899-1902, she worked at the Petersburg Farce Theatre, in 1902-03 at F.A. Korsch's Moscow Theatre, and from 1903 at S.F. Saburov's Moscow Theatre (in 1908-12, she played a portion of each theatrical season in St. Petersburg at the Passage). In 1913-31 she worked at Saburov's Petersburg Theatre and the Passage (after 1925 known as the Theatre Comedy); in 1931-37 she worked at the Comedic Theatre, which was known as the Comedic and Satiric Theatre until 1933); and in 1939-67 she worked at the Bolshoy Drama Theatre. Early on, her repertoire mainly included comedies and farces. An actress with a great and varied potential, refined mastery, delicate psychological portrayal, and "French elegance", Granovskaya portrayed many multifaceted and meaningful female roles, such as Zaza (Zaza by P. Burton and Ch. Simon), Eliza Doolittle (Pygmalion by B. Shaw), and Margherita Cavallini (Romance by E. Sheldon). Undiscovered aspects of Granovskaya's talent came out during the Soviet period in her performance of classic characters: Rosaura in The Shrewd Widow, Mirandolina in The Landlady by C. Goldoni, Katharina in Taming of the Shrew by W. Shakespeare, Evprakseyushka in The Golovlyov Family based on M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin's novel, and Kruchinina in Guilty without Guilt by A.N. Ostrovsky. She played the part of Ranevskaya in A.P. Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard staged at the Bolshoy Drama Theatre, Polina Bardina in M. Gorky's Enemies, Katya in All My Sons by A. Miller, and Miss Mareau in The Sixth Floor by A. Gehri. She also performed widely as a public reader, and spent time translating from German and French into Russian. Received the Stalin Prize in 1951. In 1967, she moved into the House of Veterans of the Stage. Buried together with N.S. Nadezhdina-Elenevskaya at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery.

References: Янковский М. О. Елена Грановская // Звезда. 1939. № 4. С. 189-196; Алянский Ю. Л. Театральные легенды. М., 1973. С. 44-61.

A. A. Kirillov. Burton P.
Chekhov Anton Pavlovich
Gehri A.
Goldoni Carlo
Gorky Maxim (Alexey Maximovich Peshkov)
Granovskaya Elena Mavrikievna
Korsch Fedor Adamovich
Miller Arthur
Nadezhdina-Elenevskaya Nadezhda Sergeevna
Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich
Saburov Simon Fedorovich
Saltykov-Shchedrin (real name Saltykov) Mikhail Evgrafovich
Shakespeare William
Shaw George Bernard
Sheldon E.
Simon Charrier
Янковский М. О. Елена Грановская // Звезда, 1939
Алянский Ю. Л. Театральные легенды. М., 1973 Passage, department store
Tovstonogov Bolshoy Drama Theatre
Bogoslovskoe Cemetery