Baranovskaya, Vera (c. 1870–1935)

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Baranovskaya, Vera (c. 1870–1935)

Russian actress. Name variations: Baranovskaia. Born in Russia around 1870; died in 1935; studied with Constantin Stanislavski.

A favorite of Constantin Stanislavski, Vera Baranovskaya was a leading lady of the Moscow Art Theater when she was chosen to play the lead in Vsevolod Pudovkin's classic movie The Mother in 1926. One of the great montage sequences of the film includes a mourning Baranovskaya holding vigil over her husband's corpse as water drips slowly into the bucket that rests beside her. That performance, which one critic maintains imbues the film with emotional lyricism, as well as her role in Pudovkin's The End of St. Petersburg the following year, led to international recognition. In 1929, Baranovskaya left Russia to further her acting career in Czechoslovakia, Germany, and France, only to retire four years later. Her films include The Thief (1916), The Burden of Fate (1917), The Wolves (1925), Ruts (1928), Such is Life (1929), Poison Gas (1929), MonsieurAlbert (1932), and Les Aventures du Roi Pausole (1933).

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