Vera Karalli
Encyclopedia
Vera Alexeyevna Karalli was a notable Russian ballet dancer, choreographer and silent film actress during the early years of the twentieth century.
, Karalli graduated from the Moscow Theatre School in 1906 under the direction of the prominent Russian instructor Alexander Gorsky
. Karalli performed with Sergei Diaghilev
's Ballets Russes
company in 1909, as well as 1919 and 1920. She became a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre
after two years and became a ballerina in 1915. Karalli was frequently paired with danseur Mikhail Mordkin
.
In 1914 Karalli also embarked on a successful acting career, and became one of Russia's first celebrated film actresses. Her first role was in the 1914 Pyotr Chardynin
directed drama Ty pomnish' li? (English title: Do You Remember?) opposite the successful actor Ivan Mozzhukhin
. From 1914 to 1919, Vera Karalli would appear in approximately sixteen Russian silent films, including the 1915 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy
's War and Peace
entitled Voyna i mir. Her last film appearance was in a German dramatic release entitled Die Reiche einer Frau in 1921. Often chosen as a leading lady by the notable director Yevgeni Bauer
, Karalli is possibly best recalled for her performances in the Bauer directed adaptations of novelist Ivan Turgenev
's Posle smerti (English: After Death) in 1915 and her role as Gizella in the 1917 melodrama Umirayushchii Lebed (English title: The Dying Swan).
and was reportedly also a co-conspirator in the December 1916 murder of Grigori Rasputin
. She was allegedly one of two women present in the palace of Felix Yussupov on the night of Rasputin's murder. The other was Marianne Pistohlkors
. Their alleged male co-conspirators never publicly identified the two women.
, Karalli made her final film appearance in the 1921 Robert Wiene
-directed German silent drama Die Rache einer Frau opposite Olga Engl
and Franz Egenieff, credited as "Vera Caroly".
In 1920, Karalli participated in a large a charity concert at the Paris Opéra
along with opera singer and dancer Maria Kuznetsova
amongst others, to raise funds to aid impoverished fellow Russian émigré
s.
In the 1920s, Vera Karalli taught dance in Kaunas
, Lithuania
and from 1930 until 1935 she was the ballet mistress of the Romanian Opera in the capital city of Bucharest
. From 1938 until 1941 Karalli lived in Paris, France. Later, she settled in Vienna, Austria and taught ballet there.
Vera Karalli died in Baden, Austria in 1972.
Early life and career
Born in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Karalli graduated from the Moscow Theatre School in 1906 under the direction of the prominent Russian instructor Alexander Gorsky
Alexander Alexeyevich Gorsky
Alexander Gorsky , a Russian ballet choreographer and a contemporary of Marius Petipa, is known for restaging Petipa’s classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Don Quixote, and The Nutcracker. Gorsky “sought greater naturalism, realism, and characterization” in ballet...
. Karalli performed with Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Diaghilev
Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , usually referred to outside of Russia as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, from which many famous dancers and choreographers would arise.-Early life and career:...
's Ballets Russes
Ballets Russes
The Ballets Russes was an itinerant ballet company from Russia which performed between 1909 and 1929 in many countries. Directed by Sergei Diaghilev, it is regarded as the greatest ballet company of the 20th century. Many of its dancers originated from the Imperial Ballet of Saint Petersburg...
company in 1909, as well as 1919 and 1920. She became a soloist at the Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
after two years and became a ballerina in 1915. Karalli was frequently paired with danseur Mikhail Mordkin
Mikhail Mordkin
Mikhail Mordkin graduated from the Bolshoi Ballet School in 1899, and in the same year was appointed ballet master.He joined Diaghilev's ballet in 1909 as a leading dancer. After the first season he remained in Paris to dance with Pavlova...
.
In 1914 Karalli also embarked on a successful acting career, and became one of Russia's first celebrated film actresses. Her first role was in the 1914 Pyotr Chardynin
Pyotr Chardynin
Pyotr Ivanovich Chardynin was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Pyotr Chardynin, one of the pioneers of the film industry in the Russian Empire, directed over a hundred silent films during his career.-Biography:...
directed drama Ty pomnish' li? (English title: Do You Remember?) opposite the successful actor Ivan Mozzhukhin
Ivan Mozzhukhin
Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin Ivan Ilyich Mozzhukhin (Russian: Иван Ильич Мозжухин was a Russian silent film actor.-Career in Russia:Mozzhukhin was born in Penza, Russia and studied law at Moscow State University. In 1910 he left academic life to join a troupe of traveling actors...
. From 1914 to 1919, Vera Karalli would appear in approximately sixteen Russian silent films, including the 1915 adaptation of Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's War and Peace
War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
entitled Voyna i mir. Her last film appearance was in a German dramatic release entitled Die Reiche einer Frau in 1921. Often chosen as a leading lady by the notable director Yevgeni Bauer
Yevgeni Bauer
Yevgeni Franzevich Bauer was a Russian film director of silent films, a theatre artist and a screenwriter. His work had a great influence on the aesthetics of Russian cinematography at the beginning of the 20th century....
, Karalli is possibly best recalled for her performances in the Bauer directed adaptations of novelist Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
's Posle smerti (English: After Death) in 1915 and her role as Gizella in the 1917 melodrama Umirayushchii Lebed (English title: The Dying Swan).
Rasputin's death
Karalli was a mistress of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of RussiaGrand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was a Russian imperial dynast. He is known for being involved in the murder of the mystic peasant faith healer Grigori Rasputin, who he felt held undue sway over Tsar Nicholas II.-Early life:Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was born at Ilinskoe near Moscow, the...
and was reportedly also a co-conspirator in the December 1916 murder of Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son Alexei...
. She was allegedly one of two women present in the palace of Felix Yussupov on the night of Rasputin's murder. The other was Marianne Pistohlkors
Marianne Pistohlkors
Marianne Pistohlkors, born Marianna Erikovna von Pistohlkors, , was a suspected co-conspirator in the murder of Grigori Rasputin.-Early life:...
. Their alleged male co-conspirators never publicly identified the two women.
Exile
After fleeing to the West following the October RevolutionOctober Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, Karalli made her final film appearance in the 1921 Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene was an important film director of the German silent cinema.Robert Wiene was born in Breslau, as the elder son of the successful theatre actor Carl Wiene. His younger brother Conrad also became an actor, but Robert Wiene at first studied law at the University of Berlin. In 1908 he also...
-directed German silent drama Die Rache einer Frau opposite Olga Engl
Olga Engl
Olga Engl was an Austrian stage and motion picture actress who appeared nearly 200 films during her career in the film industry....
and Franz Egenieff, credited as "Vera Caroly".
In 1920, Karalli participated in a large a charity concert at the Paris Opéra
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...
along with opera singer and dancer Maria Kuznetsova
Maria Kuznetsova
Maria Nikolayevna Kuznetsova , was a famous 20th century Russian opera singer and dancer.Prior to the Revolution, Kuznetsova was one of the most celebrated opera singers in Imperial Russia, having worked with Richard Strauss, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Jules Massenet. She was frequently paired...
amongst others, to raise funds to aid impoverished fellow Russian émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
s.
In the 1920s, Vera Karalli taught dance in Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
, Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
and from 1930 until 1935 she was the ballet mistress of the Romanian Opera in the capital city of Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
. From 1938 until 1941 Karalli lived in Paris, France. Later, she settled in Vienna, Austria and taught ballet there.
Vera Karalli died in Baden, Austria in 1972.
Filmography
- Die Rache einer Frau (1921)
- La Nuit du 11 septembre (1919)
- Мечта и жизнь (Mechta i zhizn) (1918)
- Набат (Nabat) (1917)
- Умирающий лебедь (Umirayushchii Lebed) (1917) (English title: The Dying Swan)
- Король Парижа) (Korol Parizha) (1917) (English release title: The King of ParisThe King of Paris (1917 film)The King of Paris is a 1917 Russian silent feature film directed by Yevgeni Bauer.The film was shot in the cinema factory of Aleksandr Khanzhonkov in Yalta.This film was the latest work of Yevgeni Bauer...
) - Гриф старого борца (Grif starogo bortsa) (1916)
- Драконовский контракт (Drakonovskiy kontrakt) (1915)
- Счастье вечной ночи (Schastye vechnoy nochi) (1915)
- Любовь статского советника (Lyubov statskogo sovetnika) (1915)
- Обожжённые крылья (Obozhzhenniye krylya) (1915)
- Тени греха (Teni grekha) (1915)
- Наташа Ростова (Natasha Rostova) (1915)
- Война и мир (Voyna i mir) (1915) (English title: War and Peace)
- После смерти (Posle smerti) (1915)
- Хризантемы (Krizantemy) (1914)
- Сорванец (Sorvanets) (1914)
- Ты помнишь ли? (Ty pomnish' li?) (1914)