14 March 2009

Olga Krasina

Beautiful Russian actress Olga Krasina (1941) starred in a handful of films in the early 1960s.

Olga Krasina
Russian postcard by Izdanije Byuro Propogandy Sovietskogo Kinoiskusstva, no. 809299, 1965. Photo: G. Ter-Ovanesova. (This postcard was printed in an edition of 200.000 cards. The price was 8 kop.)

Queen of Spades


Olga Krasina was born in Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia).

She was only beginning her career at the Bolshoi Theatre, when she made her breakthrough.

The Bolshoi Opera, Theater, Orchestra, and Choir were all united to bring Aleksandr Pushkin’s short story Pique Dame to life in an opera featuring music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and a libretto by his brother Modest.

The opera was adapted to the screen in Pikovaya Dama/Queen of Spades (Roman Tikhomirov, 1960). Pique Dame tells the tragic tale of a young man (Oleg Strizhenov) whose obsession with gambling brings about the destruction of his girlfriend, Lisa.

Olga Krasina was cast as Lisa. She and the other actors mimed their parts, while opera singers supplied the vocals.

Oleg Strizhenov
Oleg Strizhenov. Russian postcard, no. M-40561, 1967. This postcard was printed in an edition of 300.000 cards. Retail price: 8 Kop.

Little Bunny


Next Olga Krasina appeared as Bianca in the comedy Ukroshenie stroptivoi/Taming of the Shrew (Sergey Kolosov, 1961), based on the comedy of the same name by William Shakespeare.

Her following films were Ukroshchenie Stroptivoy (Sergei Kolosov, 1961), the drama Greshnyj engel/Sinner Angel (Gennadiy Kazansky, 1962), and the comedy Zajchik/Little Bunny (Leonid Bykov, 1964).

Zajchik tells the story of a man (played by director Leonid Bykov himself) who is manipulated and made fun of by everyone. He is too shy to strike back, but to everybody’s surprise love (for Krasina’s character) makes a lion out of the little bunny.

Olga Krasina’s final film was the crime film Sokrovyzhcha respublyki/Treasures of the Republic (Ivan Pravov, 1964).

More information about Olga Krasina was not to be found on the internet. Do you have more information about Olga? Please mail it to us, and we will include it in this blog post.

Sources: IMDb and AllMovie.

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