Lila Kedrova

Lila Kedrova
Kedrova in 1965.
Born	9 October c. 1918 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died	16 February 2000(2000-02-16) (aged 81) Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1938–1994
Spouse	Richard Howard (1968-2000; her death)

Lila Kedrova (9 October c. 1918 – 16 February 2000), was a Russian-born French actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Zorba the Greek (1964), and the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for the same role in the musical version of the film.

Life and career

Kedrova claimed to have been born in 1918, in Petrograd, Russia, although the year is impossible to ascertain. Her parents were Russian opera singers. Her father, Nikolay, was a singer and composer, a creator of the first Russian male quartet to perform liturgical chants. Her mother, Sofia Gladkaya (ru: Софья Николаевна Гладкая) (1875–1965), was a singer at the Mariinsky Theatre and a teacher of Conservatoire de Paris. Kedrova's brother, Nikolay (1905–1981) was a Russian singer and composer of liturgical music.

Some time after the October Revolution, in 1922, the family emigrated to Berlin. In 1928 they moved to France, where Kedrova's mother taught at the Conservatoire de Paris, and her father again recreated the quartet "Quatuor Kedroff". In 1932, Lila Kedrova joined the Moscow Art Theatre touring company. Then her film career began, mostly in French films, until her first English appearance in 1964 as Mme Hortense in Zorba the Greek. Her performance won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Kedrova appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's 1966 film, Torn Curtain playing the role of Countess Kuchinska. Kedrova played Fraulein Schneider in the West End stage production of Cabaret in 1968 alongside Judi Dench and Peter Sallis. She then went on to play a series of eccentric or batty ladies in several Hollywood films. In 1983, she reprised her role as Mme Hortense on Broadway in the musical version of Zorba the Greek, winning both a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award in the process. In 1989 she played Madame Armfeldt in the London revival of A Little Night Music.

Death

In 2000, Kedrova died at her summer home in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, of pneumonia, after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Filmography

List of acting performances in film and television

Title	Year	Role	Notes
Ultimatum	1938	Irina	as Lila Kédrova
Weg ohne Umkehr	1953	Ljuba
Le Défroqué	1954		uncredited
Flesh and the Woman	1954	Rose	French: Le Grand jeu
Les Impures	1955	Mme. Denis, la concierge
Les Chiffonniers d'Emmaüs	1955	Le femme de Bastien	uncredited
Des gens sans importance	1955
Futures vedettes	1955	Sophie's mother
Razzia sur la chnouf	1955	Léa
Calle Mayor	1956
Jusqu'au dernier	1957	Marcella Bastia
Ce joli monde	1957	Léa
The Lovers of Montparnasse	1958	Mme. Sborowsky
Mon pote le gitan	1959	La Choute
Jons und Erdme	1959
La Femme et le Pantin	1959	Manuela
Kriss Romani	1963
La Mort d'un tueur	1964
Zorba the Greek	1964	Madame Hortense	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Nominated — Laurel Award for Female Supporting Performance
A High Wind in Jamaica	1965	Rosa, Tampico Bar Owner
Torn Curtain	1966	Countess Kuchinska
Penelope	1966	Sadaba
Maigret à Pigalle	1967	Rise
Le Canard en fer-blanc	1967	Rosa
The Girl Who Couldn't Say No	1969	Yolanda's mother
The Kremlin Letter	1970	Sophie
A Time for Loving	1972	Madame Olga Dubillard
Rak	1972	La mère de David
Escape to the Sun	1972	Sarah Kaplan
Soft Beds, Hard Battles	1974
Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo compleanno	1974	Countess Mafalda
The Cursed Medallion	1975	Contessa Cappelli
Eliza's Horoscope	1975	Lila
Footprints on the Moon	1975	Old woman on the beach	French: Le Orme
The Tenant	1976	Madame Gaderian	French: Le Locataire
Moi, fleur bleue	1977	Countess de Tocqueville
Nido de Viudas	1977	Mother	US: Widow's Nest
Le Paradis des riches	1978	Camille Chevallier
Le Cavaleur	1979	Olga
Les Égouts du paradis	1979	Charlotte
Womanlight	1979	Sonia
Tell Me a Riddle	1980		Golden Mask Award
Les Parents terribles	1980
Il Turno	1981	Maria
Blood Tide	1982	Sister Anna
Testament	1983		uncredited
Sword of the Valiant	1984	Lady of Lyonesse
Some Girls	1988	Granny
A Star for Two	1991
Next Time the Fire	1993	Mother

External links

• Lila Kedrova at AllMovie
• Lila Kedrova at Find a Grave
• Lila Kedrova at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lila Kedrova at IMDb