Lila Kedrova - Biography

Biography

Kedrova claimed to have been born in 1918, in Petrograd, Russia. Her parents were Russian opera singers. Lila Kedrova's brother was Nikolay Kedrov, Jr. (1905–1981). Her father, Nikolay, was a singer and composer, a creator of the first Russian male quartet to perform liturgical chants. Her mother, Sofia Gladkaya (ru: Софья Николаевна Гладкая) (1875–1965), was a singer at the Mariinsky Theatre. In 1922, some time after the October Revolution, the family emigrated from Russia and lived in Berlin.

In 1928 they moved to France. There, Kedrova's mother taught at the Conservatoire de Paris, and her father once again recreated the quartet "Quatuor Kedroff". In 1932, Lila Kedrova joined the Moscow Art Theatre touring company. Then her film career began, mostly in French films, until her first English appearance in 1964 as Mme Hortense in Zorba the Greek. Her performance won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She then went on to play a series of eccentric or batty ladies in several Hollywood films. In 1983, she reprised her role as Mme Hortense on Broadway in the musical version of Zorba the Greek, winning both a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award in the process. In 1989 she played Madame Armfeldt in the London revival of A Little Night Music.