Maria Ouspenskaya
Biography
A Russian actress and acting teacher, Maria Ouspenskaya began on stage in her homeland and later won notice in Hollywood. Born in Tula, she trained in voice in Warsaw and drama in Moscow, then helped establish the First Studio, a workshop of the Moscow Art Theatre, where Konstantin Stanislavsky and Leopold Sulerzhitsky taught her. She stayed in New York City when the company arrived in 1922, acted on Broadway, taught at the American Laboratory Theatre, and in 1929 founded the School of Dramatic Art with Richard Boleslawski. Hollywood came later, and her first screen role there, in Dodsworth (1936), earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first Russian actress nominated for an Oscar; Love Affair (1939) brought a second. She played Maleva in The Wolf Man (1941) and again in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943), and appeared in The Mortal Storm (1940), Waterloo Bridge (1940), Beyond Tomorrow (1940) and Kings Row (1942).
73years old at death
- Born Tula
- Died Los Angeles
- Star sign: LeoThe sign runs July 23 to August 22
- Also credited as Maria Alekseyevna Ouspenskaya
Movie Career
- Films
- 14
- Career span
- 9 years1936 to 1945
Genres
First and latest
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Early training
Ouspenskaya helped found the First Studio, a theater studio of the Moscow Art Theatre. Konstantin Stanislavsky and his assistant Leopold Sulerzhitsky trained her there.
Behind the camera
Ouspenskaya taught acting to Lee Strasberg, and in 1929 founded the School of Dramatic Art in New York City with Richard Boleslawski, a colleague from the Moscow Art Theatre.
A first
For her first Hollywood part, in Dodsworth (1936), Ouspenskaya received a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination, becoming the first Russian actress ever nominated for an Oscar.
A change of course
In the 1930s, according to ads in Popular Song magazine, Ouspenskaya opened the Maria Ouspenskaya School of Dance on Vine Street in Los Angeles. Marge Champion, who modeled for Disney's Snow White, was one of her pupils.
Maria Ouspenskaya movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
Clarence Brown directed two of these films. Seventeen actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Lon Chaney Jr.'s page
Bela Lugosi's page
Gino Corrado's page
C. Aubrey Smith's page
Harry Davenport's page
Ralph Bellamy's page
All films by Clarence Brown
Also two films together11 more actors
- Claude RainsKings Row (1942) and The Wolf Man (1941)
- Charles BoyerLove Affair (1939) and Conquest (1937)
- J.M. KerriganTarzan and the Amazons (1945) and The Wolf Man (1941)
- Henry StephensonTarzan and the Amazons (1945) and Conquest (1937)
- Patric KnowlesFrankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) and The Wolf Man (1941)
- Walter HustonThe Shanghai Gesture (1941) and Dodsworth (1936)
- Albert BassermannThe Shanghai Gesture (1941) and Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940)
- Scotty BeckettLove Affair (1939) and Conquest (1937)
- Virginia FieldDance, Girl, Dance (1940) and Waterloo Bridge (1940)
- Rex EvansFrankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) and The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
- Brenda JoyceTarzan and the Amazons (1945) and The Rains Came (1939)
When several people share the same number of films, the ones with the most films on Netflix are in the chart.
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.