Alla Kazanskaya

Who was Alla Kazanskaya?

Alla Alexandrovna Kazanskaya was a Russian stage and film actress. She began her career at the age of 18 at the Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. By the time of her death at age 88, she was the theatre's oldest working actress. She had received the Crystal Turandot, Russia's foremost theatre award in 2007.

Kazanskaya was the fourth wife of director Boris Barnet, who committed suicide in 1965. Their daughter Olga Barnet is also an actress. Kazanskaya's most notable film appearance was in the Academy Award-winning drama Burnt by the Sun. Among her many pupils at the Shchukin Theatrical School were Sergei Makovetsky and Yulia Rutberg.