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In-Depth Information
Ivan's victory, the importance of the Battle of the
Ugra River was mostly symbolic. Mongol power
had already been declining over the past century,
but despite the Muscovite victory, the Mongols
would continue to threaten Moscow through
most of the 16th century.
Ulianov, Mikhail Aleksandrovich
(1927-
)
actor
One of the most popular and versatile actors of
his generation, Ulianov also played an important
role in the late 1980s advancing Mikhail
GOR
-
BACHEV
's agenda of glasnost (openness) and per-
estroika (restructuring) in the world of theater.
Ulianov was born in Tara, a remote Siberian
town, to a peasant family. In 1945 he left to study
acting in Omsk, but after one year he transferred
to the Shchukin School of Theater in Moscow.
After graduation in 1952, he joined the repertory
company of the prestigious Vakhtangov Theater.
As an actor, Ulianov became best known to audi-
ences of the Soviet era for his portrayals of
LENIN
and Marshal
ZHUKOV
on the stage and screen. His
insightful and complex portrayal of Yegor Trub-
nikov, a disabled war veteran who returns to his
village to serve as chairman of a collective farm in
the acclaimed film
The Chairman
(1964), won
him a
LENIN PRIZE
.A
COMMUNIST PARTY
member
since 1951, Ulianov became a staunch supporter
of Mikhail Gorbachev after 1985, and he joined
the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
When theater professionals followed the exam-
ple of the Filmmakers' Union and formed a Rus-
sian Theater Workers Union in October 1986 to
break the stranglehold of party bureaucrats on
the Soviet theater, they elected Ulianov as its
director. In 1987 he was appointed artistic direc-
tor of the Vakhtangov Theater. In 1989, together
with other prominent progressive Soviet cultural
personages, he was elected to the groundbreak-
ing Congress of People's Deputies.
Ulanova, Galina Sergeyevna
(1910-1998)
ballet dancer
Praised as one of the greatest Russian dancers
since Anna
PAVLOVA
, Ulanova was the prima bal-
lerina of the Bolshoi Theater from 1944 until her
retirement in 1962. Born in St. Petersburg, she
was the daughter of Sergei Ulanov and Maria
Romanova, two dancers at the Imperial, or Mari-
inskii, Theater (renamed Kirov in Soviet times)
of St. Petersburg. After the
OCTOBER REVOLUTION
of 1917, she studied at the Petrograd School of
Choreography, first with her mother and eventu-
ally with Agrippina Vaganova, an important
influence on her career. In 1928, she made her
debut with the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad (St.
Petersburg), where she performed until 1944.
Ulanova's lyrical and direct style, rooted in the
best traditions of prerevolutionary ballet, had a
great impact on the further development of
Soviet ballet. Ulanova excelled in Soviet ballets
such as
The Fountain of Bachkisarai
(1934), as well
as classical works such as
Swan Lake
and
Giselle.
She also created the role of Juliet for Lavroski's
version of
Romeo and Juliet
by Sergei
PROKOFIEV
.
Ulanova first appeared at the Bolshoi Theater in
1935 and, almost a decade later, became prima
ballerina. Relatively unknown outside the Soviet
Union, her first foreign appearance was in Flo-
rence, Italy, in 1951. A tour of England in 1956
established her reputation as one of the best
dancers in the world. After her official retirement
in 1962, she taught at the Bolshoi Theater and
became its mistress ballerina. She was also noted
for her superb acting, which translated well into
films such as
Giselle
and
Romeo and Juliet.
She
received numerous prizes, including the Stalin
Prize (four times), People's Artist of the USSR,
and, in 1974, the Lenin Order.
Ungern-Sternberg, Baron Roman
Feodorovich von
(1885-1921)
military commander
Known as the “mad Baron,” Ungern-Sternberg
was with Grigorii
SEMENOV
, one of the anti-Bol-
shevik Cossack commanders who ruled vast
stretches of the Lake Baikal region and Mongolia
during the Russian civil war. Ungern-Sternberg
was born into a noble Baltic German family in
Livonia (present-day southern Estonia). Details
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