Maria Ouspenskaya

Ouspenskaya died from a stroke several days after receiving severe burns in a house fire, which she had caused by falling asleep while smoking a cigarette. In 1994, the government of France placed her image on a postage stamp. Despite her two Academy Award nominations her later films were inferior productions such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) and Tarzan and the Amazons (1945). Yvonne Printemps died in the Paris suburb of Neuilly on January 19, 1977. Her other successes included The Rains Came (1939), Waterloo Bridge (1940), The Mortal Storm (1940), and Kings Row (1942). She continued to perform on stage until she was well into her sixties and remained active with Pierre Fresnay, co-directing the Théâtre de la Michodière in Paris with him until his death in 1975. She received a second nomination in 1939 for her role in Love Affair. Personifying the grand diva, she made a great spectacle wherever she went with her pet poodles on a leash.

Her first Hollywood role, in Dodsworth (1936) brought her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Loving the spotlight, she would be seen draped with jewels and wearing enormous hats. Although she had appeared in a few Russian silent films many years earlier, Ouspenskaya had avoided making a career in film, until the financial hardship of her school forced her to consider the possibilities of film to help her build her finances. Following her divorce from Sacha Guitry, she fell in love with French film star Pierre Fresnay with whom she remained for life. One of Ouspenskaya's students at the school during this period was the then unknown teenager, Anne Baxter. She appeared in nine motion pictures, including the starring role in both the stage and screen versions of "Le Trois Valses.". She performed regularly on Broadway over the next decade, and in 1929 she founded the School of Dramatic Art in New York. In 1934 she received international acclaim for her performance in the Noel Coward play, "Conversation Piece." She performed in Paris and at London's West End before going to the United States to star on Broadway.

The Moscow Art Theatre travelled widely throughout Europe and when it arrived in New York in 1922 she decided to remain. Together they performed in a number of his plays bringing the extremely popular 1925 production of "Mozart" to cities in North America, including New York City, Montreal, Quebec and Boston, Massachusetts. A member of the Moscow Art Theatre, she was directed by Konstantin Stanislavski, and for the remainder of her life advocated and taught his method. In 1919, she married actor-playwright Sacha Guitry. Born in Tula, Russia, Ouspenskaya studied singing in Warsaw and acting in Moscow and performed extensively in Russian theater. Her voice and stage presence made her a great star at a young age, appearing as a teenager with the greatest stars of the day, Maurice Chevalier and Mistinguett. Maria Ouspenskaya (July 29, 1876 - December 3, 1949) was a Russian born actress who achieved success as an stage actress as a young woman in Russia, and as an elderly woman in Hollywood films. Nicknamed Printemps (springtime) by her fellow chorus members because of her sunny disposition, she started in operetta, appearing in such works as "Les Contes de Perrault" (1913) and "Le Poilu" (1916).

Born Yvonne Wignolle, she was dancing in revues at the Folies Bergère in Paris at age 13. Yvonne Printemps, born July 25, 1895 in Ermont, Île-de-France, France - died January 19, 1977 in Paris, France, was a singer and actress.