Olga Ivanovna Preobrazhenskaya (russian: Ольга Ивановна Преображенская, 24 July 1881 – 30 October 1971) was a Russian

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

, one of the first female film directors, and the first female film director in Russia. She is best known for directing the films ''

Women of Ryazan ''Women of Ryazan'' or ''The Peasant Women of Riazan'' (russian: Бабы рязанские, Baby ryazanskie) is a 1927 Soviet silent drama film directed by Olga Preobrazhenskaya and co-directed by Ivan Pravov, starring Kuzma Yastrebitsky, O ...

'' (1927) and ''

And Quiet Flows the Don ''And Quiet Flows the Don'' (''Quiet Flows the Don'' or ''The Silent Don'', russian: Тихий Дон, literally ''The Quiet Don'') is a novel in four volumes by Russian writer Mikhail Sholokhov. The first three volumes were written from 192 ...

'' (1930).

Biography

Olga Ivanovna Preobrazhenskaya was born on 24 July 1881, in Moscow. From 1901 to 1904, she studied in the actor school of

Moscow Art Theater The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; russian: Московский Художественный академический театр (МХАТ), ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ)) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was f ...

. From 1905, she worked in theaters in Poltava, Tbilisi, Riga, Odessa, Voronezh and Moscow. In 1913, she debuted as film actress in '' The Keys to Happiness'', directed by

Vladimir Gardin Vladimir Rostislavovich Gardin (russian: Влади́мир Ростисла́вович Га́рдин) (born Vladimir Rostislavovich Blagonravov (Благонра́вов); – 28 May 1965) was a pioneering Russian film director and actor who ...

and

Yakov Protazanov Yakov Alexandrovich Protazanov (russian: Яков Александрович Протазанов; 4 February ( O.S. 23 January ) 1881 – 8 August 1945) was a Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter, and one of the founding fathers of ...

, and she starred in several popular adaptations of Russian classics, such as ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (russian: Война и мир, translit=Voyna i mir; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy that mixes fictional narrative with chapters on history and philosophy. It was first published ...

'' and ''

On the Eve ''On the Eve'' (russian: «Накануне», ''Nakanune'') is the third novel by Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. It has elements of social comedy but fell foul of radical critics who advocated the need of more overt reform. Plot The story revolv ...

'' (both 1915). Preobrazhenskaya was one of the founders of the actor school of the

VGIK The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (russian: Всероссийский государственный институт кинематографии имени С. А. Герасимова, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinemat ...

, where she taught from 1918 to 1925. In 1916 Preobrazhenskaya directed ''Miss Peasant'' — it was her directorial debut. When it was released it received praise, but since it was the debut film of a woman director, it was treated with distrust, and on the posters and reviews her name was often written with a male ending or attributed to other directors. After graduating from the Moscow Art Theater School in 1923 she worked as a director at the Goskino film studio (now

Mosfilm Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output incl ...

), was the second director on the films '' Locksmith and Chancellor'' (1923). Starting in 1927, she collaborated with film director

Ivan Pravov Ivan Konstantinovich Pravov (russian: Иван Константинович Правов; 4 November 1899 – 11 May 1971) was a Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter. Filmography ;director * '' Women of Ryazan (Бабы рязанс ...

, with whom she made several films together. Their most well-known films were ''

'' (1927) and ''

'' (1930)

Filmography

;As Actress ;As Director

References

External links

* Actresses from the Russian Empire Soviet women film directors Soviet film directors Soviet film actresses Silent film directors Actresses from Moscow 1881 births 1971 deaths {{USSR-film-director-stub