Lilita Bērziņa

Lilija Priede-Bērziņa, known by her stage name Lilita Bērziņa (17 July 1903 – 27 May 1983) was a Latvian stage and film actress.

Biography Bērziņa was born on 17 July 1903 in Rīga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire. Her father Dāvis Bērziņš was a carpenter and bricklayer and her mother Zelma Bērziņa was a seamstress.

Bērziņa was educated at Riga City Gymnasium No. 3, leaving school in 1919, while also attending the Latvian Youth Union's drama courses. with her debut role in 1921's Fire and Night. Bērziņa also starred in the first latvian full length motion picture Lāčplēsis (1930, based on the national epic poem by Andrejs Pumpurs).

Following World War II, Bērziņa supported the renewal of the Jewish Theatre, unsuccessfully trying to convince the Latvian Communist party leadership to reopen the institution.

After a thirty-year break from acting, Bērziņa returned to the film industry to play older female roles, including in A Limousine the Colour of Midsummer's Eve, Surveyor's Times and Frost in Spring. Stalin Prize Meritorious Artist of the Latvian SSR People's Artist of the USSR