I usually write these “appreciations” about hunky guys like
Channing Tatum and Victor Mature and Aldo Ray.
Well, this time it’s a tiny little old lady.
Maria
Ouspenskaya was a small regal actress who graced a number of classic films.
She came from Russia, studied in Poland, and came to the USA in the 1920s. She
liked it here so much that she decided to stay.
Her heart was in the stage, but the financial troubles of the
late 1920s / early 1930s made it necessary for her to look toward Hollywood.
Her first film was “Dodsworth,” with
Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton. She plays a steely old European martinet who
forbids Ruth to marry her son. She’s terrific, and she got an Academy Award
nomination for the role.
Many more roles followed. She played Charles Boyer’s darling
grandmere Janou in “Love Affair.”
She’s the mysterious Maleva the gypsy in “The Wolfman”
with Lon Chaney, who intones:
Even a man who’s pure of heart
And says his prayers at night
Will become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
And the autumn moon is bright.
Ouspenskaya was reputedly difficult. She was scornful of her
fellow actors. She knew herself to be a brilliant actress, and acted
accordingly. According to her IMDB biography, she relied on celebrity
astrologer Carroll
Righter to tell her when she should and shouldn’t perform.
This did not
endear her to directors and fellow cast members.
My favorite Ouspenskaya performance is in 1939’s “The Rains Came.” She is (to
perfection!) the bejeweled Maharani of Ranchipur, smoking her cigarette in a
long holder and playing bridge. She is dryly ironic, and she is wonderful.
She was injured in a fire in 1949, which was (probably)
caused by her smoking in bed. She was
taken to the hospital, and died of a stroke a few days later.
Poor thing.
Honor her memory by seeing one of the movies cited above.
You’ll thank me for it.
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