Ouspenskaya, Maria (1876–1949)

Legendary Russian stage and screen actress who was nominated for Academy Awards for Dodsworth (1936) and Love Affair (1939). Name variations: Marie Ouspenskaya. Born in Tula, Russia, on July 29, 1876; died in a fire that also destroyed her home in Hollywood, California, on December 3, 1949.

Select filmography in U.S., unless otherwise noted:

The Cricket on the Hearth (Russian, 1915); Worthless (Russian, 1916); Dr. Torpokov (Russian, 1917); Buried Alive (Russian, 1918); Khveska (Hospital Guard , Russian, 1923); Tanka–Traktirshista Protiv Otsa (Russian, 1929); Dodsworth (1936); Conquest (1937); Love Affair (1939); The Rains Came (1939); Judge Hardy and Son (1939); Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet (1940); Waterloo Bridge (1940); The Mortal Storm (1940); The Man I Married (1940); Dance Girl Dance (1940); Beyond Tomorrow (1940); The Wolf Man (1941); The Shanghai Gesture (1942); Kings Row (1942); The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942); Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943); Destiny (1944); Tarzan and the Amazons (1945); I've Always Loved You (1946); Wyoming (1947); A Kiss in the Dark (1949).

The tiny but eminently memorable Maria Ouspenskaya was born in Tula, Russia, in 1876 and gained early fame with the Moscow Art Theater. In 1923, she made her American stage debut with Tsar Fyodor Ivanovitch. She appeared on Broadway in The Saint, The Witch, Dodsworth, Abide with Me, Daughters of Atreus, Outrageous Fortune, a revival of The Jest, and an updated Taming of the Shrew. For a number of years, she also ran a New York acting school.

Ouspenskaya became a dominant Hollywood character actress from 1936 through the 1940s. Unfortunately, the distinguished actress is best remembered for her performance as the fortuneteller Maleva, mother of a werewolf, in The Wolf Man (1941), which starred Claude Rains, Lon Chaney, and Evelyn Ankers . In the film, Ouspenskaya warns Chaney, and the audience, in her ominous heavy accent by reciting the ersatz Gypsy (Roma) folk rhyme: "Even the man who is pure in heart/ And says his prayers by night/ May become a wolf when the wolf-bane blooms/ And the autumn moon is bright." Note Jay Nash and Stanley Ross in their Motion Picture Guide: "Ouspenskaya is marvelous in her restrained portrayal as the wise old gypsy who foretells the tragedy that is to befall the innocent Chaney." Earlier, Ouspenskaya had been nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Baroness von Obersdorf in 1936's Dodsworth, starring Walter Huston and Mary Astor , as well as for her performance in Love Affair in 1939.