Ekaterina Vasilyevna Zelyonaya (); ( — 1 April 1991, Moscow), better known by her stage name Rina Zelyonaya, was a Soviet actress, singer and comedian. She was named People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1970.

Biography

Ekaterina Zelyonaya was born in Tashkent (modern-day

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

) into a Russian family of modest means, the third of four children. Her rare surname which translates from Russian as ''Green'' had been often taken for a pseudonym by people, just like her stage name Rina (short for Ekaterina). Her paternal grandfather Ivan Kuzmich Zelyoniy was a member of the Tashkent City Duma. According to the actress, her parents didn't fit each other at all.''Rina Zelyonaya (2018)''. Scattered Pages. Moscow: AST (Memoirs) Her mother Nadezhda Fyodorovna Zelyonaya was given away to marriage at the age 16. She was absolutely careless and couldn't plan family budget which led to grand scandals involving her husband – Vasily Ivanovich Zelyoniy, a low-ranking official, a stingy and generally unsympathetic man, as Rina described him. After he was transferred to Moscow, Rina entered a prestigious gymnasium for girls despite the lack of money. During the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

she entered the Moscow Theatre School where she studied for two years. Among her teachers were Maria Blumenthal-Tamarina, Illarion Pevtsov and

Nikolai Radin Nikolai Mariusovich Radin (Russian: Николай Мариусович Радин; 15 December 1872 – 24 August 1935) was a Russian stage and silent film actor and director. Biography Radin was born as Nikolai Mariusovich Kazankov on 15 Decem ...

. Hunger and the lack of job made her seek other options. By that time her father had been assigned with restoration of storage facilities in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

. Rina along with her mother and younger sister decided to join him and traveled to Odessa, but it turned out Vasily Zelyoniy had left the family for another woman.

Early popularity

Rina got sick with

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

along the way and as soon as she recovered, she joined the Odessa KROT theatre led by Viktor Tipot and Vera Inber, and that's where her career really started. After a while she returned to Moscow, performed in night cabarets with songs and musical numbers, and in 1924 became an actress of the Moscow Satire Theatre. From 1930 on she started performing with stand-up shows. She became popular on account of her ability to imitate the speech of children. Although she appeared briefly in such well-known films as '' The Foundling'' (1939), for which she also co-wrote the script, Zelyonaya earned her living by touring the country and performing humorous skits from the life of children. She also provided the voice for cartoon characters and radio shows. During the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front, also known as the Great Patriotic War (term), Great Patriotic War in the Soviet Union and its successor states, and the German–Soviet War in modern Germany and Ukraine, was a Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II ...

she visited the frontline and performed for soldiers, for which she was awarded the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

in 1944.

Later life

At an advanced age, she was cast in film roles of grannies, notably as Mrs. Hudson in the TV series '' The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson'' filmed by the

Lenfilm Lenfilm (, acronym of Leningrad Films) is a Russian production and distribution company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes s ...

movie studio between 1979 and 1986. She also published a book of memoirs ''Scattered Pages'' in 1981 which had been re-released several times since. She died of cancer on 1 April, the same day she was supposed to receive the title

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти ...

. She was later buried in Vvedenskoye Cemetery near her husband – a famous Georgian architect Konstantine Topuridze (1905—1977), designer of The Stone Flower Fountain in Moscow with whom they had spent 40 years together.Rina Zelyonaya's tomb
/ref>

Selected filmography

;actress * '' Road to Life'' (, 1931) as ''a girl from a gang Zhigan'' * '' The Foundling'' (Подкидыш, 1939) as ''Arisha'' * '' Tanya'' (Светлый путь, 1940) as ''secretary'' * '' Encounter at the Elbe'' (Встреча на Эльбе, 1949) as ''female German with a bike'' * '' Springtime'' (Весна, 1947) as ''film makeup artist'' * '' The Girl Without an Address'' (Девушка без адреса, 1957) as ''Yelizaveta Timofeyevna'' * '' A Groom from the Other World'' (Жених с того света, 1958) as ''Nina's mother'' * '' Seven Nannies'' (Семь нянек, 1962) as ''woman in red'' * '' Cain XVIII'' (Каин XVIII, 1963) as ''foreign governess'' * '' A Tale of Lost Times'' (Сказка о потерянном времени, 1964) as ''old Nadia'' * '' Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures'' (Операция "Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика, 1965) as ''a perturbed female passenger on bus №13'' * '' Give me a complaints book'' (Дайте жалобную книгу, 1965) as ''elderly singer'' * '' Three Fat Men'' (Три толстяка, 1966) as ''Ganimed'' * ''

The Twelve Chairs ''The Twelve Chairs'' () is a Russian classic satirical picaresque novel by the Soviet authors Ilf and Petrov, published in 1928. Its plot follows characters attempting to obtain jewelry hidden in a chair. A sequel was published in 1931. The ...

'' (12 стульев, 1971) as ''editor of "Bride and Groom"'' * '' Chipollino'' (Чиполлино, 1972) as ''Countess Cherry'' * '' The Adventures of Buratino'' (Приключения Буратино, 1975) as ''Tortila the Turtle'' * '' About the Little Red Riding Hood'' (Про Красную Шапочку, 1977) as ''Grandma'' * '' The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson'' (Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона, 1979–1986) as '' Mrs. Hudson'' ;voice * '' The Key'' (Ключ, 1961) as ''fairy Giatsinta'' * '' Who Said Meow?'' (Кто сказал мяу? 1962) as ''puppet'' * '' A Little Frog Is looking for His Father'' (Лягушонок ищет папу? 1964) as ''little frog'' * '' Vovka in a Far Away Kingdom'' (Вовка в Тридевятом царстве, 1965) as ''Vovka'' * '' Most, Most, Most, Most'' (Самый, самый, самый, самый, 1966) as ''little Lion'' * '' The Blue Bird'' (Синяя птица, 1970) as ''grandmother'' * '' Losharik'' (Лошарик, 1971), as ''Losharik'' * '' The Mystery of the Third Planet'' (Тайна третьей планеты, 1981) as ''Kolya's grandmother'' * ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'' (Алиса в Стране чудес, 1981) as ''

Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

Biography

Early popularity

Later life

Selected filmography

References

External links