Lyudmila Maksakova

After the simultaneous graduation from a secondary school, and the Moscow Central music school where she studied cello, Lyudmila opted against pursuing a musical career and enrolled at the Shchukin Theatre Institute to join the actor Vladimir Etush's class. In 1961 she joined the Vakhtangov Theater where she debuted as Masha in The Cookie's Marriage (after Anatoly Sofronov's comedy).[1][4] Her breakthrough came two years later when she played the Tatar Princess Adelma in the much acclaimed Vakhtangov production of Princess Turandot, revived by director Ruben Simonov. Among her other lauded performances were those of Lolya (Dion), Knipper-Chekhova (My Whimsical Happiness), Nicol (Le Bourgeois gentilhomme), Maria (The Cavalry Army, after Babel) and Mamayeva (Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man).[1]

In 1964 Maksakova debuted in film, as Nina in Grigory Chukhray's There Was an Old Couple. Over the next decade she appeared in more than fifteen films, including the revolutionary history drama Tatiana's Day (1967), the psychological melodrama Not Guilty (1969), the tragic melodrama The Bad Good Man (1973) and the psychological drama Autumn (1974).[1] Among other critically acclaimed films she appeared in later, were Old Russian Vaudevilles' Evening (1979, where she played five different women), Igor Talankin's drama Father Sergius (after Leo Tolstoy's short story) and Die Fledermaus, Ian Frid's musical film after Johann Strauss Strauss' classic, alongside Yuri and Vitaly Solomin.[1]

The early 1980s saw Maksakova enjoying her second wave of success in theatre. Much lauded were her Anna Karenina in Roman Viktyuk's 1983 production (based on Mikhail Roshchin's remake of Leo Tolstoy's novel), Paola in The Lady Without Camellias (after Terence Rattigan's play), Bizyukina in Soboryane (based on Leskov's novel) and Louise in I Don't Know You From Now On, Dear (after Aldo De Benedetti's play).[5] Her performance in Pyotr Fomenko's production of Guilty Without Fault by Alexander Ostrovsky, earned Maksakova the USSR State Prize in 1995, and the Stanislavsky Prize a year later. In 2000s Maksakova started to teach at the Shchukin Theater Institute; her appearances on stage and on screen became rare and far between.[1]