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Vija Artmane
The late, great Vija Artmane was one of the most outstanding actresses of the Latvian theatre and cinema of the 20th century. She has been called the legend of Latvian theatre and the Queen of Theatre.
1946–1949, Artmane studied in Riga at the Daile Theatre Second Studio, and became an actress in the company in 1949. There, she has since created and played brilliant and unforgettable roles in the plays “Indulis and Ārija”, “Blow Ye Wind!”, “I Play and I Dance”, “Iļja Muromietis”, “Fire and Night” by Rainis, “Pygmalion” by G.B.Shaw, “Dead Souls” by N.Gogol, “Romeo un Juliet”, “Hamlet”, “Much Ado About Nothing”, “Richard III” by W. Shakespeare, “Lost Son” and “Indrani” by R.Blaumanis, “Anna Karenina” and “War and Peace” by L.Tolstoy, “Vaidelote” by Aspazija, “Gesta Berling” by S.Lagerlev, “Peer Gynt” by H.Ibsen, “Idiot” by F. Dostojevsky and many others.
In 1998 Artmane left the Daile Theater, and from 1998 to 2000 worked at the New Riga Theater, performing in “Queen of Spades” by Pushkin and “On Love” by Stendahl.
Vija Artmane has appeared in movies both in Latvia and abroad. The most popular among them are „After the Storm”, „Theatre”, „Dance of a Butterfly”. A documentary „A Talk with the Queen” on Vija Artmane has been produced by the Riga Film Studio (1980).
In 2004, the memoirs of Vija Artmane were published where she talks about events in her life and the many people she has met.
Artmane has always been a socially active personality: during the Soviet epoch, she was a deputy and a member of the Peace Council of the Soviet Union. Since 1950, she was a member of the Latvian Theatre Union, also chairman, and since 1958, a member of the Union of Latvian Filmmakers.
Vija Artmane has received many prizes and medals. In 1987, she received the Lilita Berzina Prize, in 1996 – the Berta Rumniece Prize and in 2003 she received a very special Theatre Prize for her long-standing contribution to Latvian culture.
She was born on August 21, 1929 in Tukums District and died October 11, 2008 in Riga.
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