Tatiana Samoilova, a renowned Russian film actress, is best known for her iconic roles in "The Cranes Are Flying" (1957) and "Anna Karenina" (1967).
Born Tatiana Evgenievna Samoilova on May 4, 1934, in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg),Russia, she was the daughter of notable Russian actor Evgeniy Samoylov and a Jewish mother, Zinaida Ilyinichna.
Samoilova began her studies in music under her mother's tutelage, and during World War II, she escaped the siege of Leningrad with her parents and moved to Moscow, where she studied ballet and graduated from the Stanislavsky Theatre's Ballet School.
She was invited to join the Bolshoi Theatre's ballet school, but chose to pursue a career in drama instead. From 1953 to 1956, Samojlova studied at the Shchukin Theatrical School, and later at the State Institute of Theatrical Art (GITIS),graduating in 1962 as an actress.
While a student, Samojlova made her film debut in "Meksikanets" (1955). Her breakthrough role came in 1957 with the leading part as Veronika in "Letyat Zhuravli" (The Cranes Are Flying),directed by Mikhail Kalatozov. Despite initial cold reception from Soviet officialdom, the film gained immense popularity in Russia and internationally, becoming the first and only Russian film to win the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival in 1958.
Samojlova received a Special Mention at Cannes and was nominated for Best Foreign Actress at the BAFTA Film Awards in 1959. She was offered numerous international roles, but the Soviet government forced her to decline any jobs outside the Soviet Union.
In the 1960s, her career stagnated due to the overall stagnation in the USSR under Leonid Brezhnev. Samojlova lost her job at the Mayakovsky Theatre in Moscow in 1960 and was unemployed for several years. Her next major success came with the title role in "Anna Karenina" (1967),an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Lev Tolstoy, directed by Aleksandr Zarkhi. Samojlova starred alongside her ex-husband Vasiliy Lanovoy.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Samojlova took a lengthy hiatus from film, making a comeback in several TV series in the 2000s. She was married four times and has one son. Samojlova was designated People's Actress of Russia in 1993 and currently resides in Moscow, Russia.
