Vera Kholodnaya

Vera Kholodnaya, a legend of Russian silent film, made her debut on the silver screen in 1915, when she was 22. She died just three years later, in February, 1919. Despite her tragically short career, she acted in more than 50 films (only five have survived to our day), and nonetheless became a world-famous movie star.

Kholodnaya was admired in all circles of society and was called “The Queen of the Screen.” But her success cannot be explained by her beauty alone; there were many more beautiful actresses at the time. The films she starred in were mostly banal melodramas where a suffering and soulful heroine succumbed to passions that led to her ruin. And yet, the moment this small, intense woman with tragic grey eyes and a mop of black hair appeared on the screen, she commanded attention. Her contemporaries saw her as the symbol of their era: she dictated fashions; Alexander Vertinsky dedicated his romances to her; her very name epitomized fame, beauty and talent.

Kholodnaya was born 110 years ago, on August 9, 1893, in Poltava. Her father, Vasily Levchenko, was a school teacher. Her mother nicknamed her “Poltava Dumpling,” because of her hearty appetite. She was a talented child and for some time attended classes at the Bolshoi Ballet School. At 17, she married Vladimir Kholodny, a young lawyer who had an unusual passion: he loved to compete in auto races (even Vera became interested in them). She gave up racing in 1912, when their daughter Zhenya was born. The doctors forbade Kholodnaya from having more children and a year later the Kholodnys adopted another girl, named Nonna.

Kholodnaya was certain that film was her destiny, and she worshipped Asta Nilsen, the western silent movie star who created the image of a heroine who was restrained, yet at the same time expressive and natural. Later, Kholodnaya became as talented as Nilsen at conveying complex emotions to the audience through an expression in her eyes, the turn of her head, her posture or the movement of her hands.

Kholodnaya lived when filmmaking was just becoming an industry, when movie houses were starting to make a profit. Russia was flooded with foreign-made silent movies, but, as World War I broke out, imports were halted. This stimulated the development of Russian filmmaking.

In the fall of 1914, Kholodnaya went to Timan & Reinhard. There, Vladislav Gardin agreed to take her on in a bit part, as the nanny in his Anna Karenina. But the company refused to give her major parts, and soon thereafter she was discovered by director Evgeny Bauer (Khanzhonkov Studios). In 1915, Bauer gave her the starring role in his Song of Triumphant Love, which was a fabulous success. Over the next year, Kholodnaya appeared in 13 films. She became an overnight celebrity; her movies were advertised even before shooting began.

Konstantin Stanislavsky offered Kholodnaya the part of Katerina in Alexander Ostrovsky’s play, “The Storm,” and even invited her to join the Moscow Arts Theatre. This was a profound acknowledgement of her talent, yet she could not tear herself away from cinema. Among her other famous films are Life for a Life (1916), By the Fireplace (1917), The Woman Who Invented Love (1918), and Living Corpse (1918).

Later, Kholodnaya moved to the studio headed by Dmitry Kharitonov, largely because Kharitonov had enticed most of Kholodnaya’s colleagues away from Khanzhonkov with promises of huge fees. While there, she worked with director Peter Chardynin.

Kholodnaya’s films quickly became popular outside Russia as well: in Europe, America, Turkey and Japan. She was invited to work in Hollywood and Berlin, but refused, declaring that she could not leave her country in a time of war.

In 1919, Kholodnaya traveled to Odessa for the shooting of Princess Tarakanova. An epidemic of Spanish influenza was raging in the city; it struck Kholodnaya and rapidly overtook her. She died on February 16, 1919 and most of Odessa joined in her funeral procession. The old newsreel of a huge crowd and a decorated coffin passing over people’s heads has survived and made this film – her last – perhaps her best known. Kholodnaya was buried in the First Christian Cemetery in Odessa, which in 1931 was destroyed and turned into a park.