Nina Nikolaevna Masalskaia

Born Jan. 5 (18), 1901, in Penza. Soviet Russian actress. People’s Artist of the USSR (1960).

Masal’skaia graduated from the drama studio directed by M. V. Zenina in Penza. From 1919 to 1924 she performed at the A. V. Lunacharskii Theater in Penza. Later she appeared at the theaters of the People’s Commissariat of Railroads in Tambov, Astrakhan, Cheliabinsk, Kharkov, and the Soviet Far East. In 1950, Masal’skaia joined the A. P. Chekhov Kishinev Russian Theater of Drama. She has been particularly successful in portraying strong, determined women. Masal’skaia’s first roles were Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello and Judith in Gutzkow’s Uriel Acosta. Her best roles have included Liubov’ Iarovaia in Trenev’s Liubov’ Iarovaia, Negina, Tugina, and Kruchinina in Ostrovskii’s Talents and Admirers, The Last Victim, and Guilty Though Guiltless, Vassa Zheleznova in Gorky’s Vassa Zheleznova, Maria Aleksandrovna in Popov’s Family, and the Mistress of Niskavuori in Wuolijoki’s The Stone Nest.