Galina Borisovna Volchek (Russian: Гали́на Бори́совна Во́лчек; December 19, 1933 – December 26, 2019) was a Soviet and Russian theater and film director, actress and teacher.

Biography

Galina Volchek was a daughter of the cameraman and director Boris Volchek. After finishing the Moscow Art Theatre School (1955, Karev course) she co-founded the Sovremennik Theatre, together with Igor Kvasha, Oleg Tabakov, Oleg Yefremov and Yevgeny Yevstigneyev. Since 1972 she was the chief director of the theater, and since 1989 its artistic director. Volchek directed over thirty productions. Among them were Russian and world classics, works of contemporary domestic and foreign authors.

She was repeatedly invited to productions in theaters in Germany, Finland, Ireland, the US, Hungary, Poland and other countries. She was engaged many times in theater pedagogy activities abroad.

Volchek was elected a deputy into the State Duma in 1995, where she became a member of the Committee on Culture. In 1999 Volchek left the parliament.

Personal life

Galina Volchek said: I had two husbands, several romances and one fallacy. She was married twice:

• First husband: Yevgeny Yevstigneyev. The marriage lasted for 9 years, divorced for her initiative.
  • The son Denis Yevstigneyev (born 1961), filmmaker.
• Second husband: a doctor of technical sciences, professor of Moscow State University of Civil Engineering Mark Abelev, winner of the State Prize of the Soviet Union. Also divorced.

Selected filmography

• Don Quixote (1957)
• Children of Don Quixote (1966)
• Beware of the Car (1966)
• King Lear (1971)
• The Little Mermaid (1976)
• About the Little Red Riding Hood (1977)
• Autumn Marathon (1979)
• Tevye the Dairyman (1985)

Honours and awards

• USSR State Prize (1967)
• People's Artist of the USSR (1989)
• Full cavalier of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"
• Hero of Labour of the Russian Federation (2017)