Vera Zorina

Vera Zorina (January 2, 1917 – April 9, 2003) was a Norwegian ballerina, theatre and film actress, and choreographer.

Background

Vera Zorina was born Eva Brigitta Hartwig in Berlin, Germany. Her father, Fritz Hartwig, was a German lapsed Roman Catholic, and mother, Abigail Johanne Wimpelmann (known as Billie Hartwig), Norwegian and Lutheran. Both were both professional singers. Young Eva was brought up in a small coastal town between Trondheim and Bergen, called Kristiansund North, where she debuted as a dancer at the Festiviteten, the oldest opera house in Norway. She received her education at the Lyceum for Girls in Berlin and was trained in dance by Olga Preobrajenska and Nicholas Legat.

Career

At age 12, she was presented to Max Reinhardt, who cast her in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1929) and Tales of Hoffman (1931). A performance at London's Gaiety Theatre won her an invitation to join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1933, at which time she adopted the stage name of Vera Zorina. A few years later, she attained a lead role in the London production of On Your Toes (1937) and was seen by American film producer Samuel Goldwyn, who signed her to a seven-year film contract. She appeared in a number of Hollywood movies between 1938 and 1946.

Vera Zorina (singer)

Vera Vasilyevna Zorina (Russian: Вера Васильевна Зорина; real surname - Popova; 1853 - 1903) was a Russian operetta singer (mezzo-soprano), best known as a Russian romances (or 'Gypsy art-songs') performer. She became famous after playing the part of Stesha in the popular musical Gypsy Songs in Characters by Nikolai Kulikov. Another highly popular part of hers was La Périchole in the Jacques Offenbach's operetta. Vera Zorina (an ethnic Russian) is regarded as a founder of the "Gypsyan line" in Russian operetta.

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