Elena Maksimova

Birthday: 1905-11-23
Deathday: 1986-09-23
Birthplace: Moscow, Russian Empire
Gender: Female
Owned By: Unowned

Elena Alexandrovna Maksimova (23.11.1905—23.09.1986) was born in Moscow to a grocer father (he sold non-perishable goods) and a housewife mother, who was often ill. Apart from her, there were two other daughters in the family. Following her father's death in 1920, her mother was forced by poverty to send all three daughters to Orphanage No. 55, located in the Sokolniki district. Shortly after, in 1922, her mother also passed. Thus, at the age of 17, she was left completely orphaned.

From an early age, Elena Maximova had dreamed of becoming an actress. When she finished schooling in 1925, she immediately went to the film studio attached to ‘Moskprofobor’ (Москпрофобр) to sit her entrance exams. There was only one free place available, and it went to Elena – as the most talented of all the applicants. From 1925 to 1927, she trained under the guidance of renowned film masters Vladimir Gardin and Konstantin Eggert. Alongside her studies at the film studio, Elena Maksimova had to work as a press operator at a button factory.

She worked in film since 1927, appearing in productions by various film studios in Moscow and Leningrad. Between 1940 and 1964, she was an actress at the Soyuzdetfilm studio (now the Gorky Film Studio).

Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (30 September 1958). The characters she portrayed were distinguished by their realism and attention to everyday detail. Her heroines were most often active, energetic and impetuous, yet she was equally at home with gentle, lyrical roles. She served Soviet cinema for nearly fifty years, and her work was modest and selfless — rarely in supporting roles, but more often in small cameos.

Credits

	Year	Title	Character
	1984-10-29	A Small Favor
	1983-08-22	Streak of Luck
	1983-05-10	To My People!
	1983-01-01	Assol
	1982-12-17	The Secret Agent's Return	Utkin's neighbour
	1981-12-21	The Secret of the Notebook	Glafira Petrovna
	1981-11-08	Carnival	visitor of the pawnshop
	1981-09-07	Rebirth	домработница Дарья Алексеевна
	1981-01-01	We'll Be Waiting, Come Back	babushka
	1980-10-10	Shot In The Back	Вера Николаевна
	1978-03-11	The Soldier and the Elephant
	1977-01-07	Without Father	Glafira
	1976-09-13	This Disturbing Winter
	1976-02-05	Storm on the Land
	1974-12-30	The Last Meeting	Drenched Passerby
	1974-08-26	Conscience
	1974-08-19	Birds Over the City
	1974-05-13	Fulfillment of Desires
	1974-05-07	Duration of the Day
	1974-03-25	The Red Snowball Tree
	1973-12-31	This Merry Planet	мать Прошки
	1973-10-29	The Sky Behind the Clouds
	1973-04-30	Right to Jump
	1973-01-01	Alkin songs	бабка Анфиса
	1971-06-02	Declaration of Love to G.T.	Old Woman
	1970-01-13	New Year's Abduction	Maksimova
	1969-09-25	Time to Live
	1968-11-18	Ivan Makarovich
	1967-07-13	The Gypsy	Lushchilikha
	1967-06-22	Such a Big Boy	Filippovna
	1966-10-17	Afterlight
	1966-06-20	Someone Else's Name	Babushka
	1966-06-06	The Conscience	Елена Евгеньевна
	1966-02-08	The Stars of the Day
	1965-11-07	Они не пройдут	The passenger of the tram
	1965-10-04	Beloved	Нина Петровна
	1965-08-25	Sorcerer Island	Marya Stepanovna
	1965-06-02	Black Business	Aunt Masha
	1965-05-11	Father of a Soldier	Borya's grandma
	1965-03-21	Early in the Morning	мать Жени Горохова
	1965-01-27	Null kolm
	1964-09-28	The Green House	Marfa Nikolayevna
	1964-08-03	Summer is Short in the Mountains	Praskovya Savvishna
	1964-05-28	Meeting at the Crossing	woman in boat
	1962-07-11	The Judgment	woman at a court hearing (uncredited)
	1962-04-26	No Fear, No Blame	janitor
	1961-04-03	Yevdokiya	Maryushka
	1961-01-01	In Transit
	1960-12-13	Miraculous One
	1959-10-20	The Song of Koltsov	Aleksey Koltsov's mother
	1959-10-19	The Sun Shines to Everyone	Pelageya Ivanovna
	1959-08-02	In the Silence of Steppe	Anfisa
	1959-06-01	Strict Woman
	1959-04-25	A Home for Tanya	Makarikha
	1959-02-01	King of Diamonds
	1958-10-20	The Volunteers	owner of the hut (uncredited)
	1958-05-18	Rains
	1957-10-26	Quiet Flows the Don	Кошевая
	1957-10-21	The Tight Knot	Sasha's mother
	1957-04-27	Height	Berestova
	1957-03-18	Polyushko, pole
	1956-01-16	Other People's Relatives	Varvara Stepanovna
	1955-12-31	Two Captains	aunt Dasha
	1955-04-01	The Grasshopper	krestyanka iz Glukhova
	1954-01-01	The Frigid Sea	Дергачиха
	1953-04-22	Admiral Ushakov	Wife of doctor Yermolaev (uncredited)
	1952-01-12	The Country Doctor
	1948-03-22	First-Year Student	Woman with flowers
	1941-04-08	The Old Courtyard	жиличка
	1940-03-23	Личное дело	Vitya Surikov's mother
	1939-02-09	Stepan Razin	Woman in the crowd (uncredited)
	1937-02-05	Pugachev
	1935-11-06	Aerograd	Mariia Kudina
	1932-10-09	Men and Jobs	Worker woman (uncredited)
	1932-04-24	A Personal Affair
	1931-05-14	And Quiet Flows the Don	Daria Melekhova
	1930-04-08	Earth	Natalia, Vasyl's bride
	1929-10-01	Ranks and People	Modest's servant - Anna na shee
	1929-09-24	The Other Woman	Provincial lady
	1929-09-08	The Last Attraction	Polly
	1928-09-04	A Bright City	Marusenka
	1927-12-13	The Peasant Women of Ryazan	A soldier widow