Alla Kazanskaya

Alla A. Kazanskaya was a Russian actress of Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow, best known for her film role as Lidiya Stepanovna in Burnt by the Sun (1994), an Academy Award-winning film by director Nikita Mikhalkov.

She was born Alla Aleksandrovna Kazanskaya on June 15, 1920, in Russia. From 1935 - 1939 she studied acting at Shchukin Theatrical School of the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow, graduating in 1939 from the class of I.M. Tolchanov as an actress. In 1938 she made her Vakhtangov stage debut.

Since 1938 Alla A. Kazanskaya has been a permanent member of the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There her stage partners were such actors 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, and Ruben Simonov, among others. Her latest stage performances has been such roles as Arina Galchikha in "Bez viny vinovatye" (1993) by director Petr Fomenko after the classic play by Aleksandr Ostrovskiy, and as Mother Folan in the McDonaugh's play "Koroleva Krasoty" (aka.. The Beauty Queen) premiered in September 2006. Her last film appearance was supporting role as Lidia Stepanovna in Utomlennye solntsem 2: Tsitadel (2011) by director Nikita Mikhalkov.

Alla A. Kazanskaya was designated People's Actress of Russia (1971). From the 60s through the 2000s she taught an acting class at the Shchukin Theatrical School of Vakhtangov Theatre, and among her students were such actors as Sergey Makovetskiy, Vladimir Simonov, Lyudmila Nilskaya, Yuliya Rutberg, and other Russian actors. Alla Kazanskaya was married to film director Boris Barnet. She died of a heart failure on 25 June, 2008, in Moscow, Russia, and was laid to rest in Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.