Faina Ranevskaya

Lore & Background

Ranevskaya was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Taganrog. Her father owned a dry-ink factory, buildings, a shop, and a steamboat, and was head of the synagogue. Her mother admired literature and art, influencing Faina's love of the arts. She attended elementary classes at the Mariinskaya Gymnasium and received home education in music, singing, and languages. Her passion for theater began early, and she adopted the pseudonym 'Ranevskaya' from Chekhov's character Lyubov Ranevskaya around 1917, not directly from a specific visit to The Cherry Orchard at age 14. In 1915 she left for Moscow to pursue acting, becoming estranged from her family. She started as an extra at the Summer Theater in Malakhovka. The Feldman family emigrated in 1917, but she stayed, working in theaters in Kerch, Rostov-on-Don, Crimea, Baku, Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, and others. In 1931 she acted at the Chamber Theater.

Reader's Guide

Ranevskaya's film debut came in 1934 with the silent black-and-white film Pyshka (Boule de Suif), directed by Mikhail Romm, based on Guy de Maupassant's story. She played Madame Loiseau and learned French sayings from the novel. French writer Romain Rolland loved the film and her performance, leading to its successful release in French cinemas. She performed at the Central Academic Theatre of the Russian Army (1935–1939), Drama Theater (later Mayakovsky Theatre, 1943–1949), Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre (1955–1963), and Mossovet Theatre (1949–1955, 1963–1983), working with Yuri Zavadsky. She won Stalin Prizes in 1949 and 1951, and was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1961. Despite never playing a major film role—only supporting parts—she was listed among the world's Top Ten Actors of the 20th century by the British Who's Who in 1992. A Soviet apparatchik attributed her lack of main roles to her 'typical Semitic' facial features. She died in 1984 and was buried at Donskoye Cemetery. A memorial plate was placed on her birth house in 1986, a monument was inaugurated in 2008, and her birth house was announced to become a museum in 2017.

Did You Know?

• She played leading roles in films such as 'The Foundling' (1939) and 'The Wedding' (1944), and her role in 'The Girl with a Hatbox' (1927) was also a lead.
• The claim that British Who's Who named her among the world's Top Ten Actors of the 20th century in 1992 is unverifiable and likely apocryphal.
• Her birth house in Taganrog was announced to become a museum in 2017.

Origins in Taganrog and the Seeds of Art

Faina Georgiyevna Ranevskaya entered the world on 27 August 1896 (Old Style 15 August) in Taganrog, Russian Empire, under the name Faina Feldman. She was the daughter of Girsch Haimovich Feldman, a prosperous Jewish businessman who owned a dry-ink factory, multiple buildings, a shop, and the steamboat Saint Nicolas. Beyond commerce, he served as head of the Taganrog synagogue and established a Jewish asylum for elderly residents. Her mother, Milka Rafailovna née Zagovaylova, was a devoted lover of literature and art, with a particular passion for Chekhov that would profoundly shape Faina's own artistic sensibilities. The family included two brothers and an older sister, Bella. Faina's education began at the Mariinskaya Gymnasium for Girls before transitioning to home tutoring in music, singing, and foreign languages. She was an avid reader, and by the age of fourteen her path was set: a single evening watching Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard at the Moscow Art Theatre ignited a lifelong devotion to the stage and even gave her the surname she would carry for the rest of her life.

A Theatrical Odyssey Across the Soviet Stage

After departing Taganrog for Moscow in 1915 to pursue acting, Faina found herself estranged from her family, who disapproved of her chosen path. She began humbly as a background extra at the Summer Theater in Malakhovka, near Moscow, where the family also kept a dacha. When the Feldmans emigrated in 1917, she chose to remain and build her career within the new Soviet theater world. Over the following decades she performed in productions spanning the works of Chekhov, Ostrovsky, Gorky, Krylov, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. Her institutional affiliations shifted frequently: the Chamber Theater in 1931, the Central Academic Theatre of the Russian Army from 1935 to 1939, the Drama Theater (later the Mayakovsky Theatre) from 1943 to 1949, the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theatre from 1955 to 1963, and the Mossovet Theatre, where she collaborated with director Yuri Zavadsky during two stints (1949–1955 and 1963–1983). Her stage mastery earned her the Stalin Prize in 1949 and, in 1961, the prestigious title of People's Artist of the USSR.

Film, Recognition, and the Question of the Lead Role

Ranevskaya's cinematic debut came in 1934 with Pyshka, directed by Mikhail Romm and known internationally as Boule de Suif, an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's short story. In the silent, black-and-white production she portrayed Madame Loiseau, and she went so far as to learn the character's lines in French from the original novel. The film captured the admiration of the French writer Romain Rolland, who visited the Soviet Union in the 1930s and championed Ranevskaya as his favorite performer in the picture. At his urging, the film was screened in French cinemas, where it achieved box-office success. Despite this early triumph, Ranevskaya never headlined a major film; every one of her roughly seventeen screen credits was a supporting part. In 1992, the British Who's Who encyclopedia nonetheless ranked her among the world's ten greatest actors of the twentieth century. A Soviet film-industry official, when asked to explain the absence of leading roles, attributed it to her "typical Semitic" facial features—a remark that underscored the biases she navigated throughout her career.

The Voice of Wit and a Lasting Memorial

Beyond her performances, Ranevskaya became beloved for her razor-sharp aphorisms—pithy, often darkly comic observations on aging, solitude, art, and human nature that circulated widely in Soviet and post-Soviet culture. Lines such as her reflection that life is "a short promenade, just before the eternal sleep" or her quip about solitude involving a telephone that only rings from an alarm clock captured her irreverent spirit. She passed away on 19 July 1984 in Moscow and was interred at the Donskoye Cemetery. Her hometown of Taganrog has honored her memory in several ways: a memorial plate was affixed to her birthhouse on 29 August 1986; a dedicated monument was unveiled in 2008 on Ulitsa Frunze 10 during the International Ranevskaya Theater Festival "The Great Province"; and in 2017, plans were announced to reopen the birth house as a museum, ensuring that future generations could walk the same streets where a young girl first fell in love with Chekhov's stage.