Lyudmila Makarova

Lyudmila Iosifovna Makarova was born on October 20, 1921, in St. Petersburg (then Petrograd), Russia. Young Makarova was fond of ballet and theatre.

In 1937 she was admitted to the Acting Studio of Bolshoi Drama Theatre (BDT) in Leningrad.

She studied acting under Boris Babochkin and graduated from the Acting Studio of BDT in 1941. Makarova married actor Yefim Kopelyan the same year. During the Second World War Makarova worked at the Theatre of the Baltic Navy Fleet. She was entertaining the Navy and Red Army troops with theatrical performances at the time when Leningrad was under the siege. She gave many performances aboard battleships and submarines. Makarova survived the siege of Leningrad and was decorated for her courage.

Since 1945 Makarova has been a leading actress at the troupe of Bolshoi Drama Theatre in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). Her acting talent was fully revealed under director Georgi Tovstonogov, who seriously updated the repertoire and elevated artistic culture at the Bolshoi Drama Theatre. Makarova worked under Tovstonogov for almost 35 years with an outstanding ensemble of actors at BDT. There her stage partners were such renown stars as Oleg Basilashvili, Tatyana Doronina, Alisa Freyndlikh, Valentina Kovel, Svetlana Kryuchkova, Zinaida Sharko, Innokentiy Smoktunovskiy, Vladislav Strzhelchik, Sergey Yurskiy, Kirill Lavrov, Oleg Borisov, Yefim Kopelyan, Evgeniy Lebedev, Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Nikolay Trofimov, Pavel Luspekayev, and many other remarkable Russian actors. Among Makarova's best remembered stage works were the role of Khanuma in the eponymous play.

Khanuma ran over 300 performances on stage; it was also filmed by director Georgi Tovstonogov in 1978. Lyudmila Makarova was awarded numerous prizes and decorations for her stage and film works.