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Moscow to pay last respects to actress and artist Lidia Vertinskaya

MOSCOW, January 03, 4:06 /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow will pay last respects to Lidia Vertinskaya, an outstanding actress and artist. A funeral service is to held at 10:20 on Friday in the church at the Novodevichy Cemetery where the actress will be buried.

The death of Lidia Vertinskaya at the age of 90 was announced on December 31 by actor Stanislav Sadalsky in his blog in LiveJournal. "A sorrowful news came on the eve of the incoming year: Lidia Vertinskaya, the wife of Alexander Vertisnky, the mother of Nastya and Masha, and simply one of thr most mysterious and beautiful actresses of Soviet cinematography, is no more," he wrote.

"This woman was given a great deal: a long life, a great love, the tenderness of the daughters, and acting in several films. Only several films but how great they are! They are part of the golden collection of Soviet cinematography," the actor pointed out in his blog.

Lidia Vertinskaya was born on April 14, 1923, in Harbin (China). She graduated from the Vassily Surikov Institute of Arts. In 1942,when she was 18 years of age she married singer Alexander Vertinsky, to whom she devoted her entire life. One year later, their family returned to the USSR.

Vertinskaya made a debute in cinematography in the role of Phoenix in the film Sadko. Her unusual appearance used to attract the attention of film directors in subsequent fairy tale-based films. In the film "The New Adventures of the Cat in Boots", released on television in 1958, she played the part of a sorceress.

Lidia Vertinskaya's noble origin enabled her to brilliantly play the role of duchess in Don Quixote. The actress is also well-known for the role of Anidag in the fairy-tale film The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors, shot in 1963 by film director Alexander Rou after the same-name story by Vitaly Gubarev.