Dobrzhanskaya Lyubov

Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya was born on 24 December, 1905 in Kiev into the noble family of Ivan Andronikovich Dobrzhankskiy, a junior lieutenant in the 166th infantry of the Rovenskiy regiment of the Russian Imperial Army. Lyubov’s uncle was the famous opera singer Roman Andronikovich Romanov-Dobrzhanskiy.

In 1924, on graduating from the theatre studio of the Kiev Russian Drama Theatre, she was taken into the company. Her first husband, the actor Ivan Chervinskiy, was arrested and took his own life in prison. Lyubov Ivanovna’s father was also sent away to the Solovetskiy Islands.