---
name: "Maria Ouspenskaya"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/maria-ouspenskaya"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "28 July 1876"
died: "3 December 1949"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 3
average_fi1m_score: 81
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-20T00:36:52.908948+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Maria Ouspenskaya

Actor. Born 28 July 1876 in Tula, Russian Empire [now Russia]. Died 3 December 1949.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 28 July 1876, Tula, Russian Empire [now Russia]
- **Died:** 3 December 1949
- **Active:** 1936–1942
- **Also known as:** Mme. Maria Ouspenskaya, Mariya Uspenskaya, Мария Успенская, М. Успенская
- **Academy Awards:** 2 Oscar nominations
- **Average Fi1m score:** 81, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1930s 86 (2), 1940s 70 (1)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 0 of 3 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Romance 3, Mystery 1
- **Screen time:** 5 hours of reviewed films
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Ouspenskaya, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q255808, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0653642/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/14873

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*Dodsworth*](https://film.one/film/dodsworth.md) (87)
- **HBO Max:** [*Love Affair*](https://film.one/film/love-affair.md) (85)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Maria Ouspenskaya was a Russian actress and acting teacher. Born in Tula in the Russian Empire, she trained in singing in Warsaw and acting in Moscow, where she became a founding member of the First Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre and studied under Konstantin Stanislavsky.

She arrived in the United States in 1922 with the Moscow Art Theatre company and remained there. She performed on Broadway and in 1929 co-founded the School of Dramatic Art in New York City with Richard Boleslawski. From 1936 she appeared in Hollywood supporting roles.

Her film credits include *Dodsworth* (1936), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, *Love Affair* (1939), *Waterloo Bridge* (1940), *The Wolf Man* (1941) and *Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man* (1943). She died in Los Angeles in 1949.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, encyclopedia.com.*

## On Fi1m (3)

- *Kings Row* (1942), Fi1m 70, as Madame von Eln — [page](https://film.one/film/kings-row.md)
- *Love Affair* (1939), Fi1m 85, as Grandmother — [page](https://film.one/film/love-affair.md)
- *Dodsworth* (1936), Fi1m 87, as Baroness Von Obersdorf — [page](https://film.one/film/dodsworth.md)

## Complete filmography (21)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *A Kiss in the Dark* (1949), as Mme. Karina
- *Wyoming* (1947), as Maria
- *I've Always Loved You* (1946), as Madame Goronoff
- *Tarzan and the Amazons* (1945), as Amazon Queen
- *Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man* (1943), as Maleva the Gypsy
- *The Mystery of Marie Roget* (1942), as Madame Cecile Roget
- *Kings Row* (1942), as Madame von Eln — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/film/kings-row.md)
- *The Shanghai Gesture* (1941), as The Amah
- *The Wolf Man* (1941), as Maleva
- *Dance, Girl, Dance* (1940), as Madame Basilova
- *The Man I Married* (1940), as Frau Gerhardt
- *The Mortal Storm* (1940), as Mrs. Breitner
- *Waterloo Bridge* (1940), as Madame Olga Kirowa
- *Beyond Tomorrow* (1940), as Madame Tanya
- *Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet* (1940), as Franziska Speyer
- *Judge Hardy and Son* (1939), as Judith Volduzzi
- *The Rains Came* (1939), as Maharani
- *Love Affair* (1939), as Grandmother — Fi1m 85, [page](https://film.one/film/love-affair.md)
- *Conquest* (1937), as la Comtesse Pelagia Walewska
- *Dodsworth* (1936), as Baroness Von Obersdorf — Fi1m 87, [page](https://film.one/film/dodsworth.md)
- *Flowers Belated* (1917), as Matchmaker

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 2 nominated

- 1940: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *Love Affair*
- 1937: Best Supporting Actress (nominated), for *Dodsworth*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/maria-ouspenskaya