Mansurova, Tsetsiliia

(real surname Vollershtein). Born Mar. 8 (20), 1897, in Moscow; died there in 1976. Soviet actress. People’s Artist of the USSR (1971).

Mansurova graduated from the law department of the University of Kiev. She was a student (1919) and an actress at the E. B. Vakhtangov Drama Studio (since 1926 it has been known as the Vakhtangov Theater). In 1922 she created the role of Princess Turnadot in Gozzi’s Turandot. A student of Vakhtangov, Mansurova was faithful to his principles. She had great stage presence, exquisite theatrical technique, and brilliant individuality. Her true-to-life portrayals had charm, subtle humor, impetuous emotionality, and expressive fullness.

Among Mansurova’s best roles were Kseniia in Lavrenev’s The Breakup, Shurka in Gorky’s Egor Bulychev and the Others, Beatrice in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Inken in Hauptmann’s Before Sunset, Roxane in Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac, and the title role in De Filippo’s Filumena Marturano. In 1925, Mansurova began teaching at the school (since 1939 the B. V. Shchukin Theater School) of the Vakhtangov Theater, becoming a professor there in 1946. Mansurova was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and several medals.