Maria Babanova, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetMaria Babanova
Russian actress
Date of Birth: 29-Oct-1900
Place of Birth: Moscow, Russia
Date of Death: 20-Mar-1983
Profession: actor
Zodiac Sign: Scorpio 
About Maria Babanova
- Maria Ivanovna Babanova (Russian: ????? ???????? ????????; 11 November 1900 – 20 March 1983) was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actress.
- She has been described as Vsevolod Meyerhold's greatest actress and was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1954. Babanova made her debut in Theodore Komisarjevsky's theatre in 1919.
- A year later, she joined Vsevolod Meyerhold's acting courses.
- Described as "a small, radiant, energetic actor", Babanova captivated the Moscow public in Meyerhold's production of The Magnanimous Cuckold (1922).
- The three leading players, Igor Ilyinsky, Maria Babanova and Vasily Zaichikov were so in harmony they became known collectively as 'Il-Ba-Zai'.
- Babanova was viewed as the first great actress to emerge after the October Revolution.
- A typical review of her acting read as follows:Today no one knows her name but tomorrow she will be hailed as the first of a new galaxy of young actresses.
- Actresses magically born and reared amidst an arid expanse of wooden constructions, under the piercing gaze of a spotlight on a bare stage - stripped of curtains, wings, of all the mysteries of the old theatre.
- Actresses who owe that theatre nothing. Babanova's triumphs allegedly aroused the jealousy of Meyerhold's wife, Zinaida Reich.
- In 1927, Babanova was forced to leave Meyerhold's troupe, as major female roles went to Reich and she felt underemployed.
- Babanova excelled at the Mayakovsky Theatre in the roles of children and adolescents.
- She retired from acting in 1979 and died in 1983, aged 82.
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