Inna Alexeievna

Starting a film actress career at the age of 79 and making one's last movie at 101, who can top that? Such is at any rate the unusual road that Inna Alexeievna (aka Inna Alexeieff) followed. Nine screen appearances only, but a debut under the direction of no less than King Vidor (the governess in 'War and Peace') and collaborations with five important filmmakers, Wicki, Fellini, Lumet, De Sica and Morrissey. Once again, who can do better ? Small parts for sure, with one exception, the role of the grandmother in De Sica's splendid twilight portrait of dying Italian aristocracy, 'The Garden of the Finzi-Continis'. A noted performance which gained the veteran actress the unexpected status of mascot in her country. A 90 year-old mascot for that matter, but a mascot anyway! Ukraine-born but a resident in Italy since she was a little girl, Inna Alexeievna was lucky to have enough time to relish this belated glory as she would not leave this world before 3-12-1980, three years after her last filmed performance. One of her roles epitomizes her longevity, that of the old (what else?) lady on a train in Sidney Lumet's 'The Appointment', shot in 1968. Speaking to Federico (Omar Sharif), this is what she tells him: "I am NOT old, I have just lived for a long time".