Iya Savvina

Iya Sergeyevna Savvina (Russian: Ия Сергеевна Саввина; 2 March 1936 – 27 August 2011) was a Soviet film actress who was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1990.

Savvina was not a professionally trained actress. She graduated from the Department of Journalism of the Moscow State University and has appeared in 30 films following her star turn as Anna Sergeyevna in Iosif Kheifets's The Lady with the Dog (1960). Since 1977, she had served in Moscow Art Theatre. During her career she received many awards including the Crystal Turandot Award and State Prizes of USSR and Russian SFSR.

She was also a notable memoirist and cinema scholar who wrote about her colleagues Faina Ranevskaya, Mikhail Ulyanov, Lyubov Orlova and others.

Selected filmography

• The Garage (1979)
• Two Comrades Were Serving (1968)
• Anna Karenina (1967)
• The Story of Asya Klyachina (1966)
• The Lady with the Dog (1960)