Biography
Alla Aleksandrovna Kazanskaya (June 15, 1920 – June 25, 2008) was a Russian actress associated with the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow, renowned for her role as Lidiya Stepanovna in the Academy Award-winning film Burnt by the Sun (1994), directed by Nikita Mikhalkov.
Born in Russia, she studied acting at the Shchukin Theatrical School of the Vakhtangov Theatre from 1935 to 1939, graduating under the guidance of I.M. Tolchanov. She debuted on the Vakhtangov stage in 1938 and remained a permanent member of the theatre thereafter. Throughout her career, she performed alongside notable actors such as Mikhail Ulyanov, Mikhail Astangov, Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Vladimir Etush, Varvara Popova, Irina Kupchenko, Natalya Tenyakova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, Marianna Vertinskaya, Nina Ruslanova, Yuliya Borisova, Nikolai Plotnikov, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Gritsenko, Nikolai Timofeyev, Aleksandr Grave, Evgeniy Karelskikh, Sergey Makovetskiy, Viktor Zozulin, Evgeniy Knyazev, among others.
Her later stage roles included Arina Galchikha in "Bez viny vinovatye" (1993), directed by Petr Fomenko, based on Aleksandr Ostrovskiy's classic play, and Mother Folan in McDonagh's "Koroleva Krasoty" (The Beauty Queen), which premiered in September 2006. Her final film role was a supporting part as Lidia Stepanovna in Utomlennye solntsem 2: Tsitadel (2011), again directed by Nikita Mikhalkov.
Kazanskaya was honored as People's Actress of Russia in 1971. From the 1960s through the 2000s, she taught acting at the Shchukin Theatrical School of the Vakhtangov Theatre, mentoring actors such as Sergey Makovetskiy, Vladimir Simonov, Lyudmila Nilskaya, and Yuliya Rutberg. She was married to film director Boris Barnet. Alla Kazanskaya passed away from heart failure on June 25, 2008, in Moscow and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery.
