Vera Karalli

Infobox actor
bgcolour = thistle
name = Vera Karalli


imagesize = 180 px
caption = Vera Karalli in a circa 1910-1915 publicity still
birthname = Vera Alexeyevna Karalli
birthdate = birth date|1889|7|27|mf=y
location = Moscow, Russia
deathdate = death date and age|1972|11|16|1889|7|27|mf=y
deathplace = Baden, Austria
height =
othername =
homepage =
notable role = 'Gizella' in "Umirayushchii Lebed" (1917) (English title: "The Dying Swan")
academyawards =
emmyawards =
spouse = Vera Alexeyevna Karalli ( _ru. Вера Алексеевна Каралли) (July 27, 1889 - November 16, 1972) was a notable Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and actress during the early years of the twentieth century.

Early life and career

Born in Moscow, Karalli graduated from the Moscow Theatre School in 1906 under the direction of the prominent Russian instructor Alexander Gorsky. Karalli performed with Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company in 1909, as well as 1919 and 1920. [ [http://www.michaelminn.net/andros/index.php?karalli_vera Andros on Ballet] ] She became a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre after two years and became a ballerina in 1915. Karalli was frequently paired with "danseur" Mikhail Mordkin.

In 1914 Karalli also embarked on a succussful acting career, and became one of Russia's first celebrated film actresses. Her first film was in the 1914 Pyotr Chardynin directed drama "Ty pomnish' li?" (English title: "Do You Remember?") opposite the successful actor Ivan Mozzhukhin. From 1914 to 1919, Vera Karalli would appear in approximately sixteen Russian silent films, including the 1915 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" entitled "Voyna i mir". Her last film appearance was in a German dramatic release entitled "Die Reiche einer Frau" in 1921. Often chosen as a leading lady by the notable director Yevgeni Bauer, Karalli is possily best reacalled for her performances in the Bauer directed adaptations of novelist Ivan Turgenev's "Posle smerti" (English: "After Death") in 1915 and her role as Gizella in the 1917 melodrama "Umirayushchii Lebed" (English title: "The Dying Swan").

Rasputin's death

Karalli was a mistress of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia and was reportedly also a co-conspirator in the December 1916 murder of Grigori Rasputin. She was allegedly one of two women present in the palace of Felix Yussupov on the night of Rasputin's murder. The other was Marianne Pistohlkors. Their alleged male co-conspirators never publicly identified the two women. [Radzinsky, Edvard, "The Rasputin File", Doubleday, 2000, pp. 476-477]

Exile

In the 1920s, Vera Karalli taught dance in Kaunas, Lithuania and from 1930 until 1935 she was the ballet mistress of the Romanian Opera in the capital city of Bucharest. From 1938 until 1941 Karalli lived in Paris, France. [ [http://www.michaelminn.net/andros/index.php?karalli_vera Andros on Ballet] ] Later, she settled in Vienna, Austria and taught ballet there.

Vera Karalli died in Baden, Austria in 1972.

Filmography

*"Die Rache einer Frau" (1921)
*"La Nuit du 11 septembre" (1919)
*"Mechta i zhizn" (1918)
*"Nabat" (1917)
*"Umirayushchii Lebed" (1917) (English title: "The Dying Swan")
*"Korol Parizha" (1917)
*"Grif starogo bortsa" (1916)
*"Drakonovskiy kontrakt" (1915)
*"Schastye vechnoy nochi" (1915)
*"Lyubov statskogo sovetnika" (1915)
*"Obozhzhenniye krylya" (1915)
*"Teni grekha" (1915)
*"Natasha Rostova" (1915)
*"Voyna i mir" (1915) (English title: "War and Peace")
*"Posle smerti" (1915)
*"Krizantemy" (1914)
*"Sorvanets" (1914)
*"Ty pomnish' li?" (1914)

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0179028|name=Vera Karalli
* [http://www.ballerinagallery.com/karalli.htm The Ballerina Gallery]
* [http://www.michaelminn.net/andros/index.php?karalli_vera Andros On Ballet]
* [http://jorgen-w.livejournal.com/4815.html Danish Ballet Journal]