Faina Ranevskaya

Faina Georgiyevna Ranevskaya (born Faina Girschevna Feldman, on August 27th, 1896 in Taganrog), was a Soviet theatre and film actress. She is also very well known for her cheeky aphorisms. In childhood, she attended the Mariinskaya Gymnasium for Girls, receiving additional education usual for someone from an affluent family (music, singing, foreign languages). Heavily influenced by her mother's love for the arts, Ranevskaya had a budding interest in theatre and by the age of 14 was attending classes at the private theatre studio of A. Jagiello (A.N. Govberg), graduating in 1914. In 1915 she decided to move to Moscow, becoming estranged from her family due to her choice of career. During these years she met M. Tsvetaeva, O. Mandelstam, V. Mayakovsky, and V. Kachalov. In the post-revolutionary years, her family left Russia and settled in Prague, but she stayed to continue pursuing theatre. She worked in the theatres of Kerch, Rostov-on-Don, at the mobile theatre "The First Soviet Theater" in Crimea, also in Baku, Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, etc. In fall of 1915, Ranevskaya signed a contract to work in the Kerch troupe of Madame Lavrovskaya. Sadly, the public did not express great inter