Elina Bystritskaya

Elina Bystritskaya was a Soviet - Russian actress, known as Aksinya in Quiet Flows the Don (1957) by director Aleksandr Gerasimov. She was born Elina Avraamovna Bystritskaya 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 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 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. As of 1958 Bystritskaya was a permanent member of the troupe with Maly Theatre in Moscow. There she appeared on stage with such actors as Nikolai Annenkov, Varvara Massalitinova, Varvara Ryzhova, Yevdokiya Turchaninova, Vera Pashennaya, Varvara Obukhova, Yelena Shatrova, Yelena Gogoleva, Rufina Nifontova, Tatyana Eremeeva, Aleksandr Ostuzhev, Vladimir Davydov, Sergei Aidarov, Stepan Kuznetsov, Prov Sadovsky, Boris Ravenskikh, Boris Babochkin, Mikhail Zharov, Mikhail Tsaryov, Igor Ilyinsky, Pavel Olenev, Mikhail Sadovsky, Konstantin Zubov, Viktor Khokhryakov, Vsevolod Aksyonov, Nikolai Ryzhov, Evgeniy Vesnik, Viktor Korshunov, Evgeniy Samoylov, Yuriy Solomin, and many other notable Russian actors. In 1960, during the Thaw initiated by Nikita Khrushchev, Elina together with Sergey Bondarchuk and Nikolay Cherkasov was a member of the official Soviet delegation meeting with president Dwight D. Eisenhower in the White House. She was designated People's Actress of the USSR (1978), and received awards and decorations from the Soviet State. Outside of her acting profession, Bystritskaya was president of Soviet Gymnastics Federation from 1975 - 1990. She also taught acting at Shchepkin School of Maly Theatre, and at Soviet State Theatrical Institute (GITIS). She lived in Moscow, Russia, where she died in the waning days of April 2019.