Elina Avraamovna Bystritskaya[a] (4 April 1928 – 26 April 2019) was a Soviet and Ukrainian-born Russian stage and film actress and theater pedagogue.[1] She is regarded as one of the most prominent actresses in the Soviet and Russian film industry. Her career spanned six decades.
Biography
Elina Avramovna Bystritskaya was born on April 4, 1928, in Kyiv into a Jewish family. Her father was a physician. During World War II, she was evacuated to Astrakhan, where she studied a nursing course. From the age of 13, she worked as a nurse and laboratory assistant in front-line mobile evacuation hospital No. 3261, first in Aktyubinsk, then in Stalino and Odessa, where she lived with her mother (who worked in the same hospital).[2][3]
Later she studied at the Karpenko-Karyi Theater Institute in Kyiv and
was hired by the Russian Drama Theater in Vilnius upon graduation
in 1953. In 1958, Bystritskaia joined the troupe of Maly Theatre in Moscow where she soon became one of the leading actors.[1]
She was President of the USSR and Russian rhythmic gymnastics Federation from 1975 to 1992.[5][6] 1958-1985, she was married to Nikolay Kuzminsky, employee of the USSR Ministry for Foreign Trade.[7]
She died on 26 April 2019 after a long illness.[8][9]
Russian: Элина Авраамовна Быстрицкая, romanized: Elina Avraamovna Bystritskaya
Ukrainian: Еліна Авраамівна Бистрицька, romanized: Elina Avraamivna Bystrytska
References
^ abPeter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 129. ISBN978-0-8108-6072-8.
^Сабурова, Ольга (4 April 2013). "Биография Элины Быстрицкой" [Biography of Elina Bystritskaya]. РИА Новости (in Russian). online. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
