Soviet and Russian actress Alla Demidova, who turns 90 today, built a career on firsts. One of them was speaking the word ‘erection’ on a Russian stage.

Alla Demidova, the celebrated Soviet and Russian actress, celebrated her 90th birthday on September 29. Over her illustrious career spanning film and theater, she worked alongside renowned directors including Andrei Tarkovsky, Kira Muratova, and Yuri Lyubimov. Demidova was a pioneer, breaking new ground in her field, particularly in portraying intellectual women on stage and screen.

In the 1960s, Demidova became the first woman of her generation to portray intellectually engaged and spiritually searching women on screen and stage. Her breakthrough role came in Igor Talankin's 1966 film "Dnevnyye zvezdy" ("Daytime Stars"), where she portrayed poet Olga Berggolts. This role marked her entry into the company of intellectuals and spiritually searching performers, a lineage that had been pioneered by actors like Innokenty Smoktunovsky.

Another first for Demidova was her adoption of the "zero position" technique in her acting. While in Yuri Lyubimov's Shchukin Theater School class production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Good Person of Szechwan" in 1962, Lyubimov cast Demidova as the pilot's mother, a role requiring a quiet delivery. Over time, Demidova turned this "shortcoming" into a distinctive acting style, often referred to as "zero position" or "nonacting."

This technique gained prominence in the 2000s, with actors like Konstantin Bogomolov incorporating similar methods in their productions.

Demidova also made history by being the first to play the male role of Hamlet while still in theater school, at the suggestion of Anna Orochko, a legendary student of Yevgeny Vakhtangov. Her performance in this role at the Taganka Theater in the 1970s was a bold statement, particularly in the context of Soviet Russia, where taking on traditionally male roles was considered extraordinary.

Her connection to the Danish prince Hamlet extended further, as she played Gertrude in Yuri Lyubimov's production, which prompted her fellow actor Vladimir Vysotsky to share lines he knew by heart. Her performance in "Hamlet" even caught the attention of Robert Wilson, leading to her involvement in his one-woman production of "Hamlet" in 1999.

Demidova's career exemplified the notion that age is no barrier to success, a sentiment that would resonate with many international stars who continued to play male roles well into their sixties and beyond, as exemplified by Sarah Bernhardt.