Job Actress * Acting teacher
Years active 1915-1949
Known for Withered, old vaguely-European women with some authority
Top Roles Mme. Karina, Madame von Eln, The Amah, Madame Olga Kirowa, Maleva
Top GenresDrama, Romance, Comedy, Film Adaptation, Adventure, Mystery
Top TopicsBook-Based, Monster, Christmas
Top Collaborators (Director), (Director), , (Director)
Shares birthday with Theda Bara, Clara Bow, William Powell  see more..

Maria Ouspenskaya Overview:

Character actress, Maria Ouspenskaya, was born on Jul 29, 1876 in Tula, Russian Empire [now Russia]. Ouspenskaya died at the age of 73 on Dec 3, 1949 in Los Angeles, CA .

MINI BIO:

Wizened, beetle-faced Maria Ouspenskaya was a tiny Russian actress who came to America in the early 1930s to set up an acting school in New York. Despite playing a wide range of diminutive dynamos of varying nationalities, film buffs remember her best as the gypsy woman who teaches poor Lon Chaney the werewolf rhyme in "The Wolf Man". She was twice Oscar-nominated -- for her roles in Dodsworth and Love Affair.  She was tragically burned to death in her Los Angeles apartment.  

(Source: available at Amazon Quinlan's Illustrated Dictionary of Film Character Actors).

HONORS and AWARDS:

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Although Ouspenskaya was nominated for two Oscars, she never won a competitive Academy Award.

Academy Awards

YearAwardFilm nameRoleResult
1936Best Supporting ActressDodsworth (1936)Baroness von ObersdorfNominated
1939Best Supporting ActressLove Affair (1939)Grandmother, Mme. MarnayNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

Russia in Classic Film blogathon:

By Caftan Woman on Mar 8, 2015 From Caftan Woman

as featured in 1940s Beyond Tomorrow July 29, 1876 - December 3, 1949 The Russia in Classic Film Blogathon is being hosted by Fritzi of Movies, Silently and sponsored by The House of Mystery on DVD by Flicker Alley. This fascinating topic runs from March 8 - 10th. Internatio... Read full article


Supporting Players:

By Amanda Garrett on Feb 4, 2015 From Old Hollywood Films

Russian actress is beloved by generations of horror film fans for her role as the Gypsy woman in The Wolf Man (1941), but for two decades she was one of old Hollywood's most respected character actors. Ouspenskaya was probably born on July 29, 1876, (there are some discrepancies... Read full article


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Maria Ouspenskaya Quotes:

Maharani: [Regarding what to do about Lady Esketh] I want to do the right thing. I'd trample her without mercy. But then, of course, I was brought up in the hills, where charity is a sign of weakness.


Madame Marie von Eln: Don't cry, Anna, for me. It will be worse for him. My troubles are almost over and his are just beginning. Growing up is so difficult, Anna. The disappointments and the heartbreaks, the frightening problems, the menaces and cruelties of the world. How often have I wished that his mother will live or his father, or that I were his mother! It isn't fair that a young boy should be brought up by an old woman who will leave him when he needs her most.


Madame Marie von Eln: I only know that you have to judge people by what you find them to be and not by what other people say they are.


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Best Supporting Actress Oscar 1936






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Maria Ouspenskaya Facts
She died of a stroke three days after a lit cigarette set fire to her bed.

Is portrayed by Celia Lovsky in Harlow (1965/II)

She received two supporting Oscar nominations, for the films Dodsworth (1936) and Love Affair (1939). She appeared in the former for only four minutes and in the latter, a total of ten minutes.

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