Irina Gubanova

Irina Gubanova was a Russian ballerina and film actress known as Elsa in The Snow Queen (1967) and Sonya in War and Peace (1965). She was born Irina Igorevna Gubanova on March 3, 1940, in Leningrad, Russia (now, St. Petersburg, Russia). From 1950 to 1957 she studied classical ballet at the Leningrad Ballet Academy under Agrippina Vaganova, graduating in 1957 as ballerina. During the 1950s Gubanova made several appearances in ballet productions of the Kirov Ballet. However, she swapped the stage for celluloid and became staff actress at Lenfilm Studio in Leningrad. In 1959 Gubanova made her film debut as Polina in Pikovaya dama (1960). During the 1960s she played beautiful young women in such films as 713 prosit posadku (1962) by director Grigori Nikulin, Pervyy trolleybus (1963) by director Isidor Annensky, and _Snegurochka_ (1969). At that time, Gubanova also received international recognition with the role as Sonya in War and Peace (1965) by director Sergey Bondarchuk. Gubanova was briefly married to popular Russian actor Sergei Gurzo, and the marriage produced one daughter. During the 1970s she moved to Moscow. From 1978 to 2000 she was a member of the Moscow Theatre of Film Actors (Kinoaktera). She died on April 15, 2000, in Moscow, Russia.