Людмила Целиковская

Lyudmila Tselikovskaya was a Russian film and stage actress, and unofficial sex symbol in the 1940s Soviet Union. She was loved by general public, but was censored under the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin.

She was born Lyudmila Vasilyevna Tselikovskaya on September 8, 1919, in Astrakhan, Russia. Her father, Vasili Tselikovsky, was an orchestra conductor, her mother was an opera singer. Young Tselikovskaya studied piano at the Gnesin School of Music in Moscow, then, from 1937 to 1941 she studied acting at the Shchukin Theatrical School of the Vakhtangov Theatre, graduating in 1941 as an actress.

From 1941 to 1992 Lyudmila Tselikovskaya was a member of the troupe at Vakhtangov Theatre in Moscow. There her stage partners were such actors as Mikhail Ulyanov, Ruben Simonov, Boris Zakhava, Mikhail Astangov, Varvara Popova, Vasiliy Lanovoy, Irina Kupchenko, Yuliya Borisova, Lyudmila Maksakova, Marianna Vertinskaya, Nina Ruslanova, Nikolai Plotnikov, Yuriy Yakovlev, Vladimir Etush, Vyacheslav Shalevich, Andrei Abrikosov, Grigori Abrikosov, Boris Babochkin, Nikolai Gritsenko, Nikolai Timofeyev, Evgeni Fedorov, Aleksandr Grave, Vladimir Koval, Viktor Zozulin, Evgeniy Karelskikh, Sergey Makovetskiy, and Ruben Simonov, among others. Tselikovskaya gave memorable performances in the classic Shakespeare's plays, such as Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet', and Beatrice in 'Mnogo shuma is nichego' (aka.. Much Ado about Nothing).