Meta Luts (5 September 1905 – 1 July 1958) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n actress. Known mostly for her appearances on stage, she also performed in radio theatre and appeared in several films. Her career spanned nearly forty years.

Early life and education

Meta Luts was born in the rural municipality of

Riidaja Riidaja is a village in Tõrva Parish, Valga County, in southern Estonia. It has a population of 233 (as of 1 January 2012). Parks Riidaja Park is located in the village, and exemplified Riidaja manor. One of the most abundant type of neighborho ...

Valga County Valga County ( et, Valga maakond or ''Valgamaa'') is a first-level administrative unit and one of 15 counties of Estonia. It comprises the former area of Valga District. The present-day county was created on 1 January 1990. The capital and larg ...

to parents Andres and Juuli Mari Luts (''née'' Gentalen). She had two older sisters, Lonny and Karin, and a younger brother named Elmar.

Karin Karin may refer to: *Karin (given name), a feminine name Fiction * ''Karin'' (manga) or ''Chibi Vampire'', a Japanese media franchise *Karin Hanazono, title character of the manga and anime ''Kamichama Karin'' *Karin Kurosaki, a character in ''Bl ...

would go on to become a successful painter and graphic artist. Her first cousin was artist . The family moved to

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet o ...

in her early childhood where she attended primary and secondary schools and took dance lessons from Marie Kalbek-Maddi, who worked as a dance instructor for the

Endla Theatre Endla ( et, Endla teater) is a professional theatre in city of Pärnu, Estonia. The theatre was opened in 1911. The first performance was "Libahunt" ("Werewolf") by Estonian writer August Kitzberg. The Estonian Declaration of Independence was p ...

. Later, when instructors from the Estonia Theatre (now, the

Estonian National Opera Estonian National Opera (''Rahvusooper Estonia'') is the national opera company of Estonia. The company is based at the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn. The theatre has had several names throughout its existence. The latest one being "The Estonian Nati ...

) came to Pärnu to offer theatre courses, she studied dance with actor and dancer Robert Rood and was convinced by her father's friend, Estonia Theatre director and theatre pedagogue Karl Jungholz, to become a stage actress.

Career

Stage

In 1923, Luts began an engagement at Endla Theatre that lasted until 1925, when she joined the Estonia Theatre in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. Luts left the Estonia Theatre in 1949 to begin an engagement at the Tallinn State Drama Theatre (now, the

Estonian Drama Theatre The Estonian Drama Theatre ( et, Eesti Draamateater) is a theatre in Tallinn, Estonia. It has the role of a national theatre for Estonia. The Estonia Theatre is located next door. History The building that houses the Estonian Drama Theatre was or ...

), where she appeared as an actress until her death in 1958. During her prolific stage career, she appeared in productions in works by such varied international playwrights and authors as:

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...

Adolphe Adam Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and '' Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas ''Le pos ...

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

Pierre Beaumarchais Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (; 24 January 1732 – 18 May 1799) was a French polymath. At various times in his life, he was a watchmaker, inventor, playwright, musician, diplomat, spy, publisher, horticulturist, arms dealer, satirist ...

Aleksis Kivi Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish author who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, ''Seitsemän veljestä'' ("Seven Brothers") in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 p ...

Franz Grillparzer Franz Seraphicus Grillparzer (15 January 1791 – 21 January 1872) was an Austrian writer who was considered to be the leading Austrian dramatist of the 19th century. His plays were and are frequently performed at the famous Burgtheater in Vien ...

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

Konstantin Trenyov Konstantin Andreyevich Trenyov (russian: Константи́н Андре́евич Тренёв, – May 19, 1945) was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright, USSR State Prize laureate (1941), best known for his Russian Civil War history drama ...

, and

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

. Luts also appeared in a number of roles in productions of works by Estonian authors and playwrights, including those of:

Hugo Raudsepp Hugo Raudsepp (10 July 1883 – 15 September 1952) was an influential and prolific Estonian playwright and politician. Cody, Sprinchorn 2007, p. 428. In 1951 he was deported to the Irkutsk region by the Soviet authorities, where he died. Raun 2001 ...

August Kitzberg August Kitzberg ( in Laatre Parish, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 10 October 1927 in Tartu) was an Estonian writer. Life Until 1863, August Kitzberg was known as August Kits. He grew up in Niitsaadu farmstead in Penuja village, A ...

Hella Wuolijoki Hella Wuolijoki (née Ella Marie Murrik; 22 July 1886 – 2 February 1954), also known by the pen name Juhani Tervapää, was an Estonian-born Finnish writer known for her ''Niskavuori'' series.Wuolijoki, Hella. Eesti Entsüklopeedia 10. Estonian ...

A. H. Tammsaare Anton Hansen (18 (O.S.)/30 January 1878 – 1 March 1940), better known by his pseudonym A. H. Tammsaare and its variants, was an Estonian writer whose pentalogy '' Truth and Justice'' (''Tõde ja õigus''; 1926–1933) is considered one of ...

, and

August Jakobson August Jakobson (2 September 1904 – 23 May 1963) was an Estonian writer and politician. He was one of the few Estonian playwright among his contemporaries whose plays were untouched by Soviet censorship and reached other Soviet states. He h ...

Film

In 1947, Meta Luts was cast in the role of Mrs. Emilie Värihein in the

Herbert Rappaport Herbert Rappaport (1908–1983), known in the Soviet Union as Gerbert Moritsevich Rappaport, was an Austrian-Soviet screenwriter and film director. Rappaport was born in 1908 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, to Jewish parents from Lemberg (now Lv ...

-directed

Lenfilm Lenfilm (russian: link=no, Ленфильм) is a Russian production company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes shared betwee ...

drama ''Elu tsitadellis''. Luts had performed the role on stage the year previously. The film was based on the 1946 play of the same name by Estonian author and communist politician August Jakobson and was the first post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Estonian feature film following the

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

of Estonia into the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The plot largely revolves around the arrival of the Soviets following the German occupation of Estonia in 1944 and justice being meted out to Estonians who had collaborated with German occupying forces. The film ends with jubilant Estonians celebrating their "liberation" and inclusion into the Soviet Union; accepting the

communist ideology Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. The film and was awarded the

Stalin Prize Stalin Prize may refer to: * The State Stalin Prize in science and engineering and in arts, awarded 1941 to 1954, later known as the USSR State Prize * The Stalin Peace Prize, awarded 1949 to 1955, later known as the Lenin Peace Prize The Int ...

. Other prominent film roles include that of Paula in the 1956 Viktor Nevežin-directed historical drama ''Tagahoovis'', based on the 1933 story of the same name by author and playwright

Oskar Luts Oskar Luts ( – 23 March 1953) was an Estonian writer and playwright. Biography Oskar Luts was born into a middle-class family in Järvepera, central Estonia, at that time in the governorate of Livonia (Russian Empire). His younger brother was ...

(no relation), for Tallinna Kinostuudio (now,

Tallinnfilm Tallinnfilm is the oldest surviving film studio in Estonia. It was founded as Estonian Culture Film in 1931, and was nationalized in 1940 after Estonia was forced into the Soviet Union. During the first year of Soviet Occupation During Worl ...

); and the role of Heli's grandmother in the 1957 Aleksandr Mandrõkin-directed drama ''Pöördel''.

Death

Meta Luts died in Tallinn at age 52. She had never married or had children. She was buried at

Metsakalmistu Metsakalmistu (meaning ''Forest Cemetery'') is a cemetery in the Pirita district of Tallinn. Metsakalmistu was originally planned to be a public medieval cemetery. Eduard Vilde was the first to be buried in 1933. The original area of the cemete ...

in Tallinn.

Acknowledgements

*Merited Artist of the

Estonian SSR The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...

(1955)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Luts, Meta 1905 births 1958 deaths Estonian stage actresses Estonian film actresses People from Tõrva Parish Burials at Metsakalmistu 20th-century Estonian actresses