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Lila Kedrova

1909 – 2000

Actress

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About Lila Kedrova

Lived 1909 – 2000 (aged 90). Lila Kedrova was a French stage actor and film actor.

Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova (; 9 October 1909 – 16 February 2000), known as Lila Kedrova, was a Russian-French actress of the screen and stage. For her portrayal of Madame Hortense in Zorba the Greek, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. For reprising the same role in the musical stage adaptation on Broadway in 1984, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. However, her gravestone gives her birth date 9 October 1909.

In 1922, several years after the October Revolution, the family emigrated to Berlin. By 1926 they were living in France, where Kedrova's mother taught at the Conservatoire de Paris, and her father again recreated Quatuor Kedroff.

Career In 1932, Kedrova joined the Moscow Art Theatre touring company. Throughout the 1950s and '60s was a fixture of the Parisian stage, notably appearing in productions of The Rose Tattoo, The Playboy of the Western World, A View from the Bridge, A Taste of Honey, and Les Parents terribles. During this time, she also married actor-director Pierre Valde. Despite being a relative unknown internationally, director Michael Cacoyannis reached out to her personally.

Personal life Kedrova's second husband was Canadian stage director Richard Howard (1932–2017). She retired from acting in the mid-1990s due to Alzheimer's disease.

Death In 2000, Kedrova died at her summer home in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, of pneumonia. Her remains were cremated, and her ashes are buried in her family grave in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in Paris. British Academy Film Awards 1965 Best Foreign Actress

Canadian Film Awards 1975 Best Supporting Actress Eliza's Horoscope

Drama Desk Awards 1984 Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical Zorba

Golden Globe Awards 1964 Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture

Supporting Performance – Female

Taormina International Film Festival 1981 Best Actress Tell Me a Riddle

Tony Awards 1984 Best Featured Actress in a Musical Zorba

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Important facts

Birth century
Nationality
Awards
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress; Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical

People in Lila Kedrova's life

Named in this biography and alive at the same time

Contemporaries

People whose lives overlapped Lila Kedrova's

Frequently asked questions

Who was Lila Kedrova?

actress (1909–2000)

When was Lila Kedrova born?

Lila Kedrova was born on 9 October 1909 in Saint Petersburg.

When did Lila Kedrova die?

Lila Kedrova died on 16 February 2000 in Sault Ste. Marie.

What was Lila Kedrova's occupation?

Lila Kedrova was a stage actor and film actor.

What nationality was Lila Kedrova?

Lila Kedrova was French.

Sources & further reading

· Wikipedia: Lila Kedrova

· Wikidata: Q232879

· DBpedia: Lila Kedrova

Cite this page

APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Lila Kedrova. https://biography.guide/lila-kedrova/

MLA: "Lila Kedrova." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/lila-kedrova/.

Chicago: "Lila Kedrova." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/lila-kedrova/.

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