Russian-French actress (1909-2000)
Lila Kedrova
|
---|
Kedrova in 1965
|
Born
| Yelizaveta Nikolayevna Kedrova
(
1909-10-09
)
9 October 1909
|
---|
Died
| 16 February 2000
(2000-02-16)
(aged 90)
|
---|
Occupation
| Actress
|
---|
Years active
| 1938?1994
|
---|
Spouses
| - Pierre Valde
(
m.
1948;
div.
19??)
-
Richard Howard
(
m.
1968)
|
---|
Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova
(Russian: Елизавета Николаевна Кедрова; 9 October 1909
[1]
? 16 February 2000), known as
Lila Kedrova
, was a Russian-born French actress. She won the
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
for
Zorba the Greek
in 1964, and the
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
for the same role in the
musical stage version
of the film in 1984.
[2]
Life and career
[
edit
]
Yelizaveta Nikolayevna Kedrova was born in
Saint Petersburg
, Russian Empire, the youngest of three children. Her parents were Russian opera singers. Her father,
Nikolay Kedrov Sr.
(1871?1940), was a singer and composer, a creator of the first Russian male quartet to perform liturgical chants. Her mother, Sofia Gladkaya (ru:
Софья Николаевна Гладкая
; 1874?1965), was a singer at the
Mariinsky Theatre
and a teacher at the
Conservatoire de Paris
. Her brother,
Nikolay Kedrov Jr.
(died 1981), was a Russian singer and composer of liturgical music. Her sister, Irene Kedroff (Irina Nikolayevna Kedrova; died 1989), was a soprano.
[3]
Several years after the
October Revolution
, in 1922, the family emigrated to Berlin. In 1928, they moved to France, where Kedrova's mother taught at the
Conservatoire de Paris
, and her father again recreated Quatuor Kedroff. In 1932, Kedrova joined the
Moscow Art Theatre
touring company. Then her film career began, mostly in French films, until her first English-language film appearance as Madame Hortense in
Zorba the Greek
(1964). Her performance won her the
Oscar
for Best Supporting Actress. Kedrova then appeared in
Alfred Hitchcock
's film
Torn Curtain
(1966), playing the role of Countess Kuchinska, a Polish noblewoman in East Berlin who is desperate to emigrate to the United States. Kedrova played Fraulein Schneider in the West End stage production of
Cabaret
in 1968. She then played a series of eccentric and crazy women in Hollywood films. In 1983, she reprised her role as Madame Hortense on Broadway in the
musical stage version
of
Zorba the Greek
, winning both a
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical
and a
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
in the process. In 1989, she played Madame Armfeldt in the London revival of
A Little Night Music
.
[4]
Her second husband was Canadian stage director Richard Howard (1932?2017).
[5]
Death
[
edit
]
In 2000, Kedrova died at her summer home in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, of pneumonia, having suffered a long time with
Alzheimer's disease
.
[2]
[6]
She was cremated. Her ashes are buried in her family grave in the Russian cemetery in Paris.
[
citation needed
]
Filmography
[
edit
]
Awards and nominations
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Awards for Lila Kedrova
|
---|
|
---|
1936?1950
| |
---|
1951?1975
| |
---|
1976?2000
| |
---|
2001?present
| |
---|
|
---|
1950?1975
| |
---|
1976?2000
| |
---|
2001?present
| |
---|
|
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
Artists
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|