Elina Bystritskaya

Source: IMDb

Elina Bystritskaya is a Soviet - Russian actress best known as Aksinya in And Quiet Flows the Don (1957) by director Aleksandr Gerasimov.

She was born on April 4, 1928, in Kiev, Ukraine, Soviet Union. Her father, Avraam Petrovich Bystritsky, was a notable medical doctor in Kiev, her mother, Esther Isaakovna, was a medical administrator. Young Elina Bystritskaya worked as a medical nurse helping her parents in a Soviet military hospital during the Second World War. She was decorated by the Soviet State for her contribution to the Victory in the Second World War. From 1944 - 1947 she studied as a medical nurse at Nezhin Nursing School, graduating in 1947 as gynecological nurse, and then worked at a gynecological clinic. That same year she failed to enter the Kiev Acting School and studied to be a teacher, albeit her second attempt to acting school was successful. From 1948-1953 she attended the Kiev Theatrical Institute, graduating in 1953 as an actress.

Bystritskaya shot to fame in the Soviet Union with the role as a doctor in Neokonchennaya povest (1955) by director Fridrikh Ermler. In 1955 she was acclaimed as the "Best Soviet actress" of the year, and was a member of the Soviet delegation in Paris for the "Week of Soviet Film" there. A year later she was handpicked by writer Mikhail Sholokhov to co-star as Aksinya opposite Pyotr Glebov in And Quiet Flows the Don (1957) by director Aleksandr Gerasimov. Her role as Aksinya in the 'Tikhiy Don' trilogy became her best known work in film.

Since 1958 Bystritskaya has been a permanent member of the troupe with Maly Theatre in Moscow.

Filmography

Bravye parni (1993)

Nikolay Bauman (1968) .... Andreyeva

Dachniki (1967) .... Yulia Filippovna

Vsyo ostayotsya lyudyam (1963) .... Rumyantseva

... aka "Everything Remains for the People" - International (English title) (informal literal title)

Russkiy suvenir (1960) .... Pandora Montezi

... aka "Russian Souvenir" - International (English title) (informal literal title)

Tikhiy Don II (1958) .... Aksiniya

... aka "And Quiet Flows the Don II" - International (English title) (informal title)

Dobrovoltsy (1958)

And Quiet Flows the Don (1957) .... Aksiniya

... aka "Tikhiy Don" - Soviet Union (original title)

Neokonchennaya povest (1955) .... Elizaveta Muromtseva

V mirnye dni (1950)