Stepanova, Angelina

Born Nov. 23, 1905, in Nikolaevsk-na-Amure, in what is now Khabarovsk Krai. Soviet Russian actress. People’s Artist of the USSR (1960); Hero of Socialist Labor (1975). Member of the CPSU since 1952.

Stepanova studied at the school of the Third Moscow Art Theater Studio and joined the company of the Moscow Art Theater in 1924. She was noted for her subtle and laconic characterizations, psychological depth, intelligence, and elegant restraint and irony. Her best roles included Zinaida in Uncle’s Dream, after Dostoevsky, Irina in Chekhov’s The Three Sisters, Betsy Tver-skaia in Anna Karenina, after L. N. Tolstoy, Lida in Kornei-chuk’s Platon Krechet, Queen Elizabeth in Schiller’s Maria Stuart, Mrs. Patrick Campbell in Kilty’s Dear Liar, Arkadina in Chekhov’s The Seagull, and Kol’tsova and Saburova in A. Tur and P. Tur’s Ambassador Extraordinary and The Only Witness.

Stepanova received the State Prize of the USSR in 1952. She has been awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution, two other orders, and various medals.