Faina Ranevskaya

Acting · 1896–1984 · Taganrog, Don Voisko Oblast, Russian Empire [now Rostov Oblast, Russia]

Faina Georgiyevna Ranevskaya (born Faina Girschevna Feldman, on August 27th, 1896 in Taganrog), was a Soviet theatre and film actress. She is also very well known for her cheeky aphorisms. In childhood, she attended the Mariinskaya Gymnasium for Girls, receiving additional education usual for someone from an affluent family (music, singing, foreign languages). Heavily influenced by her mother's love for the arts, Ranevskaya had a budding interest in theatre and by the age of 14 was attending classes at the private theatre studio of A. Jagiello (A.N. Govberg), graduating in 1914. In 1915 she decided to move to Moscow, becoming estranged from her family due to her choice of career. During these years she met M. Tsvetaeva, O. Mandelstam, V. Mayakovsky, and V. Kachalov. In the post-revolutionary years, her family left Russia and settled in Prague, but she stayed to continue pursuing theatre. She worked in the theatres of Kerch, Rostov-on-Don, at the mobile theatre "The First Soviet Theater" in Crimea, also in Baku, Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, etc. In fall of 1915, Ranevskaya signed a contract to work in the Kerch troupe of Madame Lavrovskaya. Sadly, the public did not express great interest in the new troupe. Ranevskaya chose her stage name in honor of the main character in Anton Chekhov's play The Cherry Orchard. Once, on a walk with a fellow troupe member, Ranevskaya decided to check into the bank. The actress recalls the birth of this pseudonym: "When we came out of the massive bank doors, a gust of wind tore the banknotes out of my hands – the entire amount. I stopped, and, looking at the flying banknotes, said: 'Shame about the money, but how beautifully it flies away!' 'But indeed, you are Ranevskaya!' exclaimed her companion. 'Only she could say that!' When I later had to choose a pseudonym, I decided to take the surname of Chekhov's heroine. We have something in common–but far from everything, far from everything..." Ranevskaya also used to joke about herself, saying that she was Ranevskaya because she had butterfingers. Ranevskaya's mother and her had both greatly admired the writer himself.

Full biography

In 1934, she made her debut in film as Madame Loiseau in Pyshka (dir. Mikhail Romm), based on Boule de Suif by Guy de Maupassant. Romain Rolland, a French writer, loved the film (his favorite actor in the movie was Ranevskaya). At his request it was shown in French cinemas and became a box-office hit. She remained both prominent film and theatre actress, although most of her work remained in theatre.

In her later years, Ranevskaya professed that meeting Pavla Woolf drastically changed her fate; it was thanks to Woolf that she became an actress. They met in 1918, when Ranevskaya worked as an extra for a circus production. She happened to see Pavla Woolf in "A Nest of the Gentlefolk", which left upon her a big impression. She asked the actress to help her (who willingly accepted), and from that day on they remained very close friends.