Varvara Myasnikova

Varvara Sergeyevna Myasnikova was a renowned Soviet actress whose career spanned the transformative years of early Russian cinema and theatre. Born on September 22, 1900 in Saint Petersburg, she was the daughter of an insurance agent and a housewife, and grew up with a sister and brother in a modest middle‑class family. Her first professional engagement began in 1918 when she joined Narkompros, a cultural ministry, where she also participated in an experimental theatre troupe that later merged into the prestigious Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater after funding shortages forced the original group to dissolve in 1925.

Her cinematic debut arrived in the silent era with the 1928 film The Parisian Cobbler, marking the start of a prolific filmography that would include notable titles such as Fragment of an Empire (1929) and The Sleeping Beauty (1930), the latter directed by the celebrated brothers Georgi and Sergei Vasilyev. The pinnacle of her screen fame came with the 1934 classic Chapayev, in which she portrayed Anka, a fierce machine‑gun operator whose daring spirit inspired countless Soviet women to enlist in the Red Army; the role earned Myasnikova the title of Emeritus Artist of the Soviet Union and solidified her status as a cultural icon.

In the same year she married director Sergei Vasilyev, and the couple welcomed a daughter, also named Varvara. The outbreak of World War II forced the Lenfilm studio to evacuate to Almaty, and Myasnikova, her husband, and their daughter fled Leningrad, while her mother and brother perished during the brutal siege of the city in 1942. After the war, she took on a modest part as the Fairy Godmother in the 1947 adaptation of Cinderella, and later transitioned to work with Mosfilm and the national theatre following her 1955 divorce from Vasilyev. Her later screen appearances included The Captain's Daughter (1958) and Mumu (1959), after which she withdrew from public performance. Varvara Myasnikova passed away in Moscow on April 22, 1978, and was laid to rest in St. Petersburg’s Serafimovskoe Cemetery alongside her mother and brother, leaving a legacy that continues to inspire scholars of Soviet cinema.