Actress. A preeminent Russian stage star of the Soviet era, famed for her six-decade association with the Moscow Art Theatre (MAT). Alla Konstantinova Tarasova was born in Kiev, Ukraine. She was attracted to the theatre from childhood and caught the performing bug after seeing the MAT on tour in Kiev. In 1914 she moved to Moscow to study at the MAT's acting school; two years later she joined its second company and immediately won note in Zinaida Gippius's play "The Green Ring". Tarasova was promoted to the main company in time for its acclaimed international tour (1922 to 1924), working under the personal direction of MAT founders Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Her repertory included Shakespeare's "Othello" (as Desdemona) and "Hamlet" (Ophelia), Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya", "Three Sisters" and "The Cherry Orchard", Griboyedov's "Woe from Wit", Gorky's "The Lower Depths", Beaumarchais' "The Marriage of Figaro", and new plays by Bulgakov ("The Days of the Turbins"), Ivanov ("Armored Train 14-69"), and Afinogenov ("Fear"). Her greatest triumph was in the title role of the MAT's adaptation of Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" (1937). Apart from being beloved by audiences for her warm, earthily natural performances, Tarasova was a favorite of Soviet leader Josef Stalin, who showered her with official honors. She was the first actress to be named People's Artist of the USSR (1937), received five Stalin Prizes between 1941 and 1949, and the first of three Orders of Lenin in 1948. From 1952 to 1960 she served as a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet. Her film appearances were few, notably a 1953 reprise of her role in "Anna Karenina". She retired in 1969. Shortly before her death Tarasova was named a Hero of Socialist Labor, the Soviet Union's highest civilian award. In her will she declined an honor grave at Novodevichy Cemetery and requested burial beside her mother at Moscow's Vvedenskoe Cemetery.