Anna Stan is an actress of Ukrainian origin, who was popular in the USA in the 30s of the XX century. She was on the list of the most beautiful celebrities of the golden era of Hollywood. However, initial success was quickly replaced by unsuccessful work. Having starred in several major projects, Anna stopped receiving the main roles and soon left the cinema, taking up painting. This article will tell you about this amazing Soviet woman who was trying to build a career in Hollywood.
Anna's family and her early childhood
"The first Russian Hollywood star" (that's what the Americans used to call it) was born on December 3, 1908 in Kiev, Ukraine. Her father worked as a stage designer. Mother was originally from Sweden. From her, the girl inherited milk skin and blond hair. The woman worked as a ballerina. Stan's real name is Anna Petrovna Fesak . However, she is often called Anel Sudakevich, confused with another Soviet actress, who has a similar name. The error arose due to the Western press, which, due to the similarity of the initials, combined the two actresses into one.
Like her mother, Anna Stan studied ballroom dancing since childhood . She also received the usual education for her class: she studied German, played the piano, read classics of literature. However, the ballerina did not come out of it. By the age of 15, the girl gained weight, and her forms were rounded. With such parameters, it was hard for her to participate in ballet productions. Her father dies at the height of the revolution in 1917. Mother aged and did not work by profession. She got a job as a ticket agent in one of the theaters and received a very small salary. Wanting to help her mother and improve her financial situation, Anna Stan , whose photo you can see in this article, started working as a waitress, and then got a job as a saleswoman.
Carier start
After a hard day, the girl participated in amateur theater productions. It was here that the famous Stanislavsky noticed her. He was fascinated by the beauty and talent of Anna, so he recommended it to his colleagues. Many believe that this fact of her biography was invented on purpose already in Hollywood, in order to draw attention to the beginning actress. One way or another, but in 1926, Anna Stan moved from Kiev to Moscow to begin her career as an actress. She settles in the hostel and begins acting in films. Her film debut was the secondary role of the stenographer in the film "Miss Mend ." Almost immediately after her debut, she became very popular, and many directors tried to remove it in their paintings.
Soviet filmography of Anna Stan
Unfortunately, the actress did not work long in the USSR. After her debut, she starred in the film Boris Barnet "Girl with a Box." The picture was a great success with the public, and Anna herself stood on one level with other famous actresses of the country. Her photographs on postcards began to appear in mass editions. In 1927, Stan played in the silent feature film "Earth in Captivity", which tells about the pre-revolutionary life in Russia. Then, in 1928, the film “My Son,” directed by Yevgeny Chervyakov, now lost, is released on the screens. She talked about the family relationships of a husband, wife and her stepson.
The last and at the same time the most successful project for Anna Stan was the film "White Eagle". The drama of the famous Soviet director Yakov Protazanov talks about the defeat of the workers' strike of 1905 by the tsarist troops. The picture became very popular, and was even taken internationally. The young actress impressed the German audience, so in 1929 she was invited to star in Germany. Before leaving, Anna takes the pseudonym Stan . This is a shortened version of her mother's maiden name, which before marriage was called Stenskaya or Stensky .
European period of life
Initially, Anna Stan , whose films were a great success in the USSR, did not plan to stay in Germany for long. She came here under the patronage of the Soviet-German organization Mezhrabpomfilm , and after filming several films she had to go back. At the same time, she met with Eugene Frenke , who would later become her second husband. He is producing the German and French film adaptations of Dostoevsky ’s novel The Brothers Karamazov, in which the actress played Grushenka . This was the role she had long dreamed of. She was also involved in the films Salto Mortal, Salary of an accountant Kremke , Bombs over Monte Carlo, Storm of Passion.
Released in 1931, the film "The Killer Dmitry Karamazov" (Germany) was well received by both the public and critics. In this project, she was noticed by American producer Samuel Goldwin , who opened the world to Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. He invited Anna to undergo tests, and the actress agreed. In Germany, she had a stable job, but in Hollywood, the fees were much higher. In addition, fascist sentiments began to grow in the country, and Eugene Frenke was a Jew. Goldwin ordered his agents to prepare the American public for the appearance of a new actress, and Anna Stan herself began to actively learn English. In 1933, she moved from Germany to the United States.
Hollywood Career
Her first American project was the film "Nana," which was released in 1934. Anna Stan played a major role in it, but she was forbidden to give interviews or comment on the movie. Critics noted that the actress showed the image of the laundress well on the screen, but then completely defeated the film. After the failure of "Nana," Anna starred in the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection," which was called "We Are Alive Again." This time the picture had good reviews. In 1934, Stan Magazine Photoplay named the best actress of March, and the project itself became the best film of the year.
In 1935, the following picture was released with the participation of Anna - "Wedding Night", which tells the story of a Polish girl and American writer Anthony Barrett . The actors could not truly play a love story, and the film was in for a crushing failure. The enraged Goldwin broke off the contract with Anna, ceasing to engage in her career.
Career decline
Anna Stan , whose biography is full of various events, restrainedly commented on the break with Goldwin . However, relatives and friends said that the producer was a sore subject for the actress. The woman believed that it was he who destroyed her career. After failures in Hollywood, Anna temporarily moved to England, where she starred in the movie "Lonely Woman". Here she was visited by a German producer and offered to return to work in Germany. But because of her husband and family, Stan refused.
In 1936, the actress returned to Hollywood. Then Anna tried to play in a radio show, and then took a break in filming, which lasted 3 years. In 1939, her husband produced the film Express Expressions , which was successful at the box office. After that, Anna receives an offer to play the fascist in the project "The Man I'm Married". The film failed, and since then, Anna could no longer get a single leading role. During World War II, she played several minor roles in the films "Chetniks", "Our Night Ends", "Three Russian Girls". After the war, she began to appear on the screens only occasionally. The painting "The Nun and the Sergeant", released in 1962, became the final project in the career of the actress.
Personal life
Anna Stan has been married twice. Her first husband was director Fedor Osep, who was filming her debut film. They got married a year after they met. It was Fedor who persuaded Anna not to return to the USSR. However, their marriage was not long. In Germany, a young actress gets acquainted with Eugene Frenke , who was also a director and film producer. The man looked after the actress for a long time, until she agreed to become his wife. The divorce with Oposep passed quickly. Anna for many years was in good relations with Fedor, until he died in 1949. The second marriage was successful. Spouses have lived all their lives in the place. The actress was widowed only in 1984. It was Anna Stan who devoted her life to her family . Children and her stepdaughter became for her the meaning of life after the end of her career.
The death of Anna Stan
Anna Stan , whose filmography includes more than 30 projects, has lived a long life. She died in 1993, not living a month before her 85th birthday. It is believed that death occurred due to a sudden heart attack. The actress was buried in New York. In the last years of life, interest in her has increased. Anna was often interviewed in which she was called one of the most famous actresses of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Memory of the actress
Her career in Hollywood did not work out, but in Europe she is still remembered with warmth. Pictures with her participation were included in the golden fund of cinema. In 1993, after her death, an obituary was released, in which the author was sympathetic to the fate of the actress, believing that she was the victim of illiterate management. In Odessa in 2010, the first festival dedicated to silent films was held. One of the days was completely devoted to the work of Anna Stan . In 2012, in Italy, at one of the film festivals, in order to commemorate the actress, the organizers showed a selection of her eight best films, including one Russian-language.