Mariya Kapnist

Maria Rostyslavivna Kapnist (, ), née Marietta Rostyslavivna Kapnist-Sirko, (9 (22) March 1913, St. Petersburg – 25 October 1993, Kyiv) was a Ukrainian actress, and an Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. During her nearly forty-year acting career, from 1956 to 1993, she played more than a hundred roles.

Early life and education Marietta Kapnist-Sirko was born on 22 March 1913 in St. Petersburg in a Ukrainian family. Her father, Count Rostyslav Kapnist, was a direct descendant of Myrhorod and Kyiv colonel of the Zaporizhian Army Vasyli Kapnist, and her mother, Anastasia Baydak – a great-great-granddaughter of Zaporizhian Otaman Ivan Sirko.

Kapnist received her first vocal lessons from an Opera singer Feodor Chaliapin who was the first to draw attention at her talent during her first stage performance in a home play.

The Kapnists lived in St. Petersburg until 1917 when they had to flee to Sudak, Crimea to escape from the revolutionary storms. In 1921, Kapnist’s father, Rostyslav, was shot by a punitive detachment of the Cheka. Soon, the Kapnists’ house in Sudak was destroyed, and the surviving family members had to go into hiding.

In 1927, Kapnist moved to Kyiv to live with her aunt and graduated from a labor school there. Then Kapnist moved to Leningrad where she joined the theater studio of Yuri Yuriev at Leningrad Drama Theater named after Alexander Pushkin, and she graduated in 1934.

Repressions

In 1937, Kapnist was arrested for the first time but soon was released. She was arrested again on 27 August 1941. Kapnist was accused of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda. In August 1949, Kapnist was freed from Steplag and sent to Kazachin village in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

In 1950, she gave birth to a daughter Radislava in the prison hospital Steplag in Kazakhstan, where she lived in exile and worked in coal mines.

In 1951, Kapnist was arrested again and sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of anti-Soviet agitation. Kapnist’s friend went to Moscow and managed to get an appointment with a Soviet political figure Anastas Mikoyan to whom she complained about Kapnist’s illegal imprisonment.

From 1960 until 1993, Kapnist worked as a full-time actress at the Dovzhenko Film Studios. Kapnist became famous for her roles as old women, witches, sorceresses, gypsies and countesses.

In 1988, Kapnist was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. In October 1993, she was involved in a car accident when crossing Peremohy Avenue in Kyiv near Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio. Maria Kapnists died of complications after the car accident on 25 October 1993 in Oleksandr Hospital in Kyiv.

In 2014 Ukrainian state postal service Ukrposhta issued the postage stamp #1370 “Maria Kapnist. 1914-1993. 100 years since birth". The same year a memorial plaque dedicated to Kapnist was placed on building number 13 on Vasyl Lypkivskyi 25/7 in Kyiv.

In 2018, Kyiv City Council renamed Zhelyabov Street to Maria Kapnist Street.

Filmography (selected)

1956 — Ivanna 1959 — Tavriya 1960 — Far from the Motherland 1961 — Chasing Two Hares 1962 — We, Two of Men 1964 — The Keys of Skies 1965 — Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors 1966-67 — War and Peace 1970 — Hail, Mary! 1971 — Olesya 1972 — Ruslan and Ludmila 1972 — The Lost Letter 1972 — That Sweet Word: Liberty! 1976 — The Blue Bird 1976 — Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven 1977 — Love at First Sight 1984 — Chance 1988 — New Adventures of a Yankee in King Arthur's Court 1991 — Anna Karamazoff 1991 — Dude — Water Winner 1992 — Psychic