Lila Kedrova

Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova (Russian: Елизавета Николаевна Кедрова; 9 October 1909^[1] – 16 February 2000), known as Lila Kedrova, was a Russian-French^[2] actress of the screen and stage. For her portrayal of Madame Hortense in Zorba the Greek (1964), she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She later won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for the same role in the musical stage version of the film in 1984.^[3]

Yelizaveta Nikolayevna Kedrova was born in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire. During her life, her birth date was often reported as 9 October 1918.^[4] However, her gravestone gives her birth date 9 October 1909.^[1]

Kedorva was the youngest of three children born to opera singer parents. Her father, Nikolay Kedrov Sr. (1871–1940), was a singer and composer, a creator of the first Russian male quartet to perform liturgical chants. Her mother, Sofia Gladkaya (1874–1965), was a singer at the Mariinsky Theatre and a teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris. Her brother, Nikolay Kedrov Jr. (died 1981), was a Russian singer and composer of liturgical music. Her sister, Irene Kedroff (Irina Nikolayevna Kedrova; died 1989), was a soprano.^[5]

In 1922, several years after the October Revolution, the family emigrated to Berlin. In 1928, they moved to France, where Kedrova's mother taught at the Conservatoire de Paris, and her father again recreated Quatuor Kedroff.

In 1932, Kedrova joined the Moscow Art Theatre touring company. Throughout the 1950's and '60s was a fixture of the Parisian stage, notably appearing in productions of The Rose Tattoo, The Playboy of the Western World, A View from the Bridge, A Taste of Honey, and Les Parents terribles.^[6] During this time, she also married actor-director Pierre Valde.^[6]

She made her film debut in 1938's Ultimatum. She appeared in several French films, mainly in supporting parts, until her first English-language film appearance as Madame Hortense in Zorba the Greek (1964). She won the role after the director's first choice, Simone Signoret, quit early in production.^[7] Despite being a relative unknown internationally, director Michael Cacoyannis reached out to her personally.^[6] Her performance ultimately won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Kedrova then appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's film Torn Curtain (1966), playing the role of Countess Kuchinska, a Polish noblewoman in East Berlin who is desperate to emigrate to the United States. Kedrova played Fräulein Schneider in the West End stage production of Cabaret in 1968, and Lyuba Ranevskaya in a UK touring production of The Cherry Orchard.^[6] She then played a series of eccentric and crazy women in Hollywood films, as well as in several Italian productions including the horror films Footprints on the Moon and The Cursed Medallion. In 1976, she starred in Roman Polanski's The Tenant.

In 1983, she reprised her role as Madame Hortense on Broadway in the musical stage version of Zorba the Greek, winning both a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical in the process. In 1989, she played Madame Armfeldt in the London revival of A Little Night Music.^[8]

Kedrova's second husband was Canadian stage director Richard Howard (1932–2017).^[9] She retired from acting in the mid-1990s due to Alzheimer's disease.^[3][10]

In 2000, Kedrova died at her summer home in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, of pneumonia.^[3] Her remains were cremated, and her ashes are buried in her family grave in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in Paris.^[1]

• Lila Kedrova at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lila Kedrova at IMDb