Alla Demidova
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Alla Sergeyevna Demidova is a Russian actress internationally acclaimed for the tragic parts in innovative plays staged by Yuri Lyubimov in the Taganka Theatre. She was awarded the USSR State Prize in 1977.
Demidova was born in Moscow on September 29, 1936 and graduated from the Department of Economics of the Moscow State University in 1959. On watching Alice Koonen act, she became interested in theatre and joined the company of Yuri Lyubimov, when he formed the Taganka Theatre in 1964. Vladimir Vysotsky was her invariable partner in the theatre productions, notably in the celebrated adaptation of Hamlet (1971), in which she played Gertrude. She also appeared in several movies, including Igor Talankin's Tchaikovsky (1969) (playing Yulia von Mekk) and Andrei Tarkovsky's The Mirror (1975) (playing Lisa).
After Lyubimov's defection to the West, Demidova gradually withdrew from the Taganka Theatre. Her most acclaimed role of the 1980s was Phaedra in Roman Viktyuk's staging of Marina Tsvetaeva's tragedy. In the 1990s, she became interested in Ancient Greek theatre and settled in Greece. Demidova returned to film acting with Kira Muratova's The Tuner (2005), winning the Nika Award and the Golden Eagle Award for Best Actress the same year.
