How an emigrant became the only Russian winner of the Oscar: Lilya Kedrova

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The name of Lily Kedrova today hardly speaks to most viewers - when she was still very young, her family emigrated abroad, and in the USSR she was consigned to oblivion for many years. And now in the United States they know more about her than at home. However, Lilya Kedrova certainly deserves attention, if only because she was able to achieve considerable success and universal recognition in emigration, becoming the only actress of Russian origin to receive an Oscar. Her story was unique because both in her profession and in her personal life she became happy only after 50 years.

When the Kedrovs' family fled from Soviet Russia, all their documents were lost, so biographers cannot establish the exact date of birth of Lily (real name Elizabeth). According to their assumptions, she herself was cunning about her age, with the coquetry characteristic of an actress, claiming that since the documents were gone, she would now always be 16. Most sources indicate that she was born in Petrograd in October 1918, but researchers believe that Lilya was actually at least 10 years older. This version is supported by the fact that Lily's brother Nikolai was born in 1906, and she herself was allegedly 13 years later. However, it is difficult to imagine that her mother, a famous opera singer, at the age of 44 decided to have a second child in a country where the revolution had just taken place, and the situation of their family became very uncertain.

The emigration of the Kedrovs was forced. Lily's father, Nikolai Kedrov, was the son of an archpriest, wrote church music, advocated for the development of Orthodox culture, which, after the Bolsheviks came to power, became a dangerous occupation. After graduating from the conservatory, Nikolai Kedrov performed on the stage of the opera house, created his own vocal quartet and was familiar with many outstanding musicians of that time. He made the decision to flee abroad after one of his acquaintances informed him that his name was on the execution lists.

In the early 1920s. The Kedrovs fled the country. At first they lived in Germany for several years, and then moved to Paris. But it was the French period that became decisive in the formation of Lily (as she began to call herself abroad) as an artist. There she studied at one of the theater schools and joined the troupe of former Moscow Art Theater actors who lived in Paris and perform on the theater stage. In an interview, she said: "".

Her father in France revived his legendary "Kedrov Quartet", with which in 1908-1915. toured all over Europe. Lily's brother Nikolai also took part in it, and his son later followed in the footsteps of his great-grandfather and became protodeacon of Notre Dame Cathedral. Lily's parents dreamed that their daughter would continue their musical dynasty, but in her youth she decided to become an artist. It was difficult to convince her, Lilya was distinguished from childhood by an obstinate character. They say that in her youth, she once left home with a traveling circus, and to bring her back home, her parents had to contact the police. Kedrova always knew how to stand her ground and achieve what she wanted. In those years, a play by Vladimir Nabokov was staged in the Russian Theater in Paris, and he wrote about Leela in one of his letters: “”. It is worth noting that she got this role and coped with it perfectly.

Lilya Kedrova made her film debut in 1938. If we assume that she was actually born no later than 1908, it was very profitable for her to declare that she was only 20, because the directors might think that it was too late to start a film career at 30. Her first job was the role of the Russian girl Irina in the French military drama Ultimatum. In the future, she will often be offered such roles - emigrants often played abroad foreign women, countesses, extravagant aunts, among whom there were no main characters. But after the debut in her film career, there was a pause that lasted 15 years. It is all the more surprising that after this Lilya Kedrova achieved such success.

For a long time, Lilya Kedrova was known in France as a favorite actress of "small roles". But her popularity did not go beyond the borders of the country. Therefore, she took as a gift of fate the offer of the Greek filmmaker Michalis Kakoyannis to play the role of Madame Hortense in his film "The Greek Zorba" based on the novel of the same name by Nikos Kazantzakis. At the same time, the actress almost did not speak English. They say that when she arrived on the island of Crete, where the shooting took place, she pretended to be sick and in a few days simply memorized all the phrases of her heroine.

In 1964, this film received 7 Oscar nominations at once, in 3 of which it won. Lilya Kedrova received the prestigious film award in the category "Best Supporting Actress", becoming the only actress of Russian origin to have an Oscar. Even according to the official version, at that time she was already 46 years old. After that, she filmed a lot until 1993, in France, Canada, USA, Great Britain, Italy, worked with Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski. From 1938 to 1993 she has appeared in over 60 European and Hollywood films and TV series. Lilya Kedrova has won many prestigious theater and film awards, among which were "Tony" and "Golden Mask".

Her story was unique not only because world fame came to her only after 45 years. She also found her personal happiness only after 50. In her youth, she had an affair with the emigrant actor Grigory Khmara, with whom they performed on the same stage. She first officially married the French director Pierre Walde for the first time in 1948, but this marriage was not happy and did not last long. And she met true love in 1968 in London. Canadian opera director and impresario Richard Howard saw her on stage at The Cherry Orchard and lost his head. They got married and lived happily together for the rest of their lives.

Only in the last 7 years of her life, the actress was forced to give up filming and performing in the theater due to health problems - she suffered from heart failure and Alzheimer's disease. On February 16, 2000 Lilya Kedrova passed away after suffering pneumonia.

There is still debate about whether Lilya Kedrova can be called a Russian actress, because she left Russia very young, formed as an actress in France, and starred a lot in Canada. Therefore, in different sources, she is called a Russian, French and Canadian actress.

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