Alisa Freindlich

Alisa Freindlich
Born	Alisa Brunovna Freindlich 8 December 1934 Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1957–present
Children	Varvara Vladimirova
Parent(s)	Bruno Freindlich, Ksenia Fedorova
Awards	(1994)

Alisa Brunovna Freindlich^[1] (Russian: Али́са Бру́новна Фре́йндлих, born 8 December 1934 in Leningrad, Soviet Union) is a Soviet and Russian actress, People's Artist of the Soviet Union.

Biography

Alisa Freindlich was born into the family of Bruno Freindlich,^[2] a prominent actor and People's Artist of the Soviet Union. She is of German and Russian ancestry. Her father and paternal relatives were ethnic Germans living in Russia for more than a century.^[3] In her childhood years, Alisa Freindlich attended the drama and music classes of the Leningrad Palace of Pioneers. During the Second World War she survived the 900-day-long Siege of Leningrad and continued her school studies after the war.

In the 1950s she studied acting at the Leningrad Institute of Theatre, Music and Cinema, graduating in 1957 as actress. From 1957 to 1961 Alisa Freindlich was a member of the troupe at Komissarjevsky Theatre in Leningrad. Then she joined the Lensovet Theatre company, but in 1982, she had to leave it following her divorce from the theatre's director, Igor Vladimirov. Thereupon director Georgy Tovstonogov invited her to join the troupe of BDT in which she works to this day.^[2]

Although Freindlich put a premium on her stage career, she starred in several notable movies, including Eldar Ryazanov's enormously popular comedy Office Romance (1977), the long-banned epic Agony (1975) and Tarkovsky's^[4] sci-fi movie Stalker (1979). Another notable role was the Queen Anne of Austria in the Soviet TV series D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) and its later Russian sequels, Musketeers Twenty Years Later (1992) and Queen Anne's Secret or Musketeers Thirty Years Later (1993).

On her 70th birthday, Freindlich's apartment in St. Petersburg was visited by Vladimir Putin, who awarded her with state decoration of the Russian Federation. She also received a Nika Award in 2005.^[5][6]

Filmography

• Unfinished Story (1955)
• Talents and Admirers (1955)
• Immortal Song (1957)
• The City Lightens Up (1958)
• The Story Of Newlyweds (1959)
• Striped Trip (1961)
• Fro (1964)
• The First Visitor (1965)
• Adventures of a Dentist (1965)
• The Twelve Chairs (1966)
• To Love (1968)
• The Waltz (1969)
• Madrid (1969)
• Family Happiness (1969)
• Yesterday, Today and Forever (1969)
• The Secret of the Iron Door (1970)
• My Life (1972)
• Acting As (1973)
• Melodies of Vera Quarter (1973)
• The Taming of the Shrew (1973)
• Anna and Commodore (1974)
• The Straw Hat (1974)
• Agony (1974)
• Blue Puppy (voice) (1976)
• Office Romance (1977)
• Agony (1975/1984)
• Stalker (1979)
• D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978)
• A Cruel Romance (1984)
• A Simple Death (1985)
• Musketeers Twenty Years Later (1992)
• Queen Anne's Secret or Musketeers Thirty Years Later (1993)
• On Upper Maslovka (2004)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Honours and awards

• Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1965)
• People's Artist of RSFSR (1971)
• RSFSR State Prize of the Stanislavsky (1976) - for the performance of roles Shchegoleva, Kovaleva, Kid plays in "The Man from", "Kovalev of the province," IH Butler, "The Kid and Carlson," by Astrid Lindgren^[7]
• People's Artist of Soviet Union (1981)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1986)
• Order of Friendship (17 December 1994) - for services to the people associated with the development of Russian statehood, the achievements in labour, science, culture, arts, strengthening friendship and cooperation between nations
• Nika Award for Best Supporting Actress (movie "Moscow Nights", dir. Valeri Todorovski; 1994)
• Russian Federation State Prize in Literature and Art in 1995 (27 May 1996) - for the outstanding performance of roles of the classical repertoire
• Russian Federation State Prize in Literature and Art in 2000 (6 June 2001) - for the performance of the Russian State Academic Bolshoi Drama Theatre Tovstonogov "Arcadia" play by Tom Stoppard
• Honorary citizen of St. Petersburg (2001)^[7]
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 4th class (13 February 2004) - for outstanding contribution to the development of domestic theatrical art
• Nika Award for Best Actress (movie "In the Upper Maslovka", dir. Konstantin Khudyakov; 2005)
• "Golden Mask" Award for best dramatic actress ("Oscar and the Pink Lady", Theatre Lensovet; 2006)
• Russian Federation State Prize, 2007 (19 May 2008) - for creating artistic images that have become classics of domestic theatrical art and film
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 3rd class (5 February 2009) - for outstanding contribution to the development of domestic theatrical art and many years of fruitful activity
• Diploma of the President of the Russian Federation (8 December 2010)
• Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts

References

1. From German Freundlich, friendly in English.
2. Алиса Фрейндлих: «Наверное, я неправильная бабушка»
3. "My mother is Russian, father is German. Our roots in Saint Petersburg are very old. My ancestors were brought there by Catherine II" (in Russian). ab-freindlih.narod.ru. Retrieved 2007-12-25.
4. Алиса Фрейндлих. Из породы одержимых
5. Соратники
6. Алиса Фрейндлих: Моя женственность выпирает из любого костюма
7. Алиса Фрейндлих — «кнопочка» для внука, «королева» для режиссёров

External links

• Alisa Freindlich at the Internet Movie Database
• Unofficial Fan Club of Alisa Freindlich (Russian)
• Alisa Freindlich at Peoples.ru (Russian)
• Eldar Ryazanov about Alisa Freindlich and making of Office Romance (Russian)