Yeva (Yevgenia) Nikitichna Olenskaya (1900,

Quba Quba () is a city and the administrative centre of the Quba District of Azerbaijan. The city lies on the north-eastern slopes of Shahdag mountain, at an altitude of 600 metres above sea level, on the right bank of the Kudyal river. It has a po ...

, Baku Province, Russian Empire – 20 May 1959, Baku, Azerbaijan SSR, Soviet Union) was an Azerbaijani Soviet actress, Hero of Labor (1927),

People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR People's, branded as ''People's Viennaline'' until May 2018, and legally ''Altenrhein Luftfahrt GmbH'', is an Austrian airline headquartered in Vienna. It operates scheduled and charter passenger flights mainly from its base at St. Gallen-Alten ...

(1949). She is best known for her role in the silent film “''Arshin mal alan''” (''The Cloth Peddler'') (1917).

Life

Yeva Olenskaya was born in 1900 in

Baku Governorate The Baku Governorate, known before 1859 as the Shemakha Governorate, was a province ('' guberniya'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, with its center in the booming metropolis and Caspian Sea port of Baku. Area (1897): 34,400 sq ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. She was of Russian nationality but learned Azerbaijani language as a child. Her elder sister Alexandra Olenskaya was an actress in various Azerbaijani theater troupes and encouraged her sister to try herself on stage too. Later the sister's husband, Heydar Vezirov, People's Commissar of Agriculture of the Azerbaijan SSR, was repressed as a people's enemy along with his wife and two sons.

Career

Olenskaya appeared on the stage for the first time in 1913 at the age of 13 at the premiere of the operetta “Arshin mal alan” in the role of Asya. The same year, in 1913, Olenskaya joined the Azerbaijani dramatic troupe “Nikat”, and then the troupe “Safa”. In 1917 together with her sister Olenskaya played in the silent film “Arshin mal alan” directed by

Boris Svetlov Boris Svetlov was a Russian film director and actor who worked in the Cinema of Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani cinema in the mid to late 1910s and Lenfilm Studio in 1919–1926. He directed the 1917 film The Cloth Peddler (1917 film), The Cloth Peddler ...

. In 1918-1920 Olenskaya performed in the drama troupe of Hajibekov brothers. Olenskaya studied at the Baku Theatrical Technical School (now the Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts) in 1923–1926. From late 1920 to early 1925, she worked at the Baku Turkish Free Criticism and Propaganda Theater. Then, in 1926 Olenskaya returned to the National Drama Theater where she performed for thirty four years. Olenskaya created dramatic, tragic and comic roles both in the national drama and in the translated performances. In 1927, Olenskaya was awarded a title of “Hero of Labor”. In 1949, she was awarded the title of People's Artist of the Republic. Yeva Olenskaya died on 20 May 1959 in Baku.

Theater works

* Maria Antonovna (''

The Government Inspector ''The Government Inspector'', also known as ''The Inspector General'' ( rus, links=no, Ревизор, Revizor, literally: "Inspector"), is a satirical play by Russian dramatist and novelist, Nikolai Gogol. Originally published in 1836, the pla ...

'' by N. Gogol); * Arkhipovna (''Guilty Without Fault'' by A. Ostrovsky); * Dunka (''

Lyubov Yarovaya ''Lyubov Yarovaya'' (russian: Любовь Яровая) is a 1953 Soviet drama film directed by Yan Frid. It was based on a 1926 play of the same name by Konstantin Trenyov, which was later adapted a second time as a 1970 film. The film was the m ...

'' by K. Trenyov); * Oksana (''The Death of the Squadron'' by O. Korneichuk); * Manya (''Strangers Child'' by V. Shkvarkin); * Grandmother Vera ('' The Young Guard'' by A. Fadeyev); * Erna Curcius (''Manor in the alley'' by P.Tour); * Leokadia Lvovna (''Daughter of the Prosecutor'' by Y. Yanovsky); * Dergacheva (''Personal case'' by A. Stein).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olenskaya, Yeva 1900 births 1959 deaths Azerbaijani stage actresses Soviet stage actresses Azerbaijani people of Russian descent Azerbaijani silent film actresses Soviet silent film actresses People's Artists of the Azerbaijan SSR 20th-century Azerbaijani actresses Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts alumni People from Quba Heroes of Socialist Labour