Russian dancer, choreographer and actress Ileana Leonidoff or Helena Leonidof (1893 - ?) had a rather short but quite prolific film career in the Italian silent cinema in the late 1910's. Her film debut was the futurist classic Thais (1917). Later 'la divina Ileana' became an important choreographer, first in Italy and later in South America.
![Helena Leonidof]()
Vintage Italian postcard.
Futurist Film
Ileana Leonidoff was born as Elena Sergeevna Pisarevskaja in 1893. She started her career as a dancer and was the inventor of the 'Russian Dance Leonidoff'. She made her film debut in the legendary futurist film Thais (1917, Anton Giulio Bragaglia). Three quarters of this film is a classic diva drama about a man-devouring woman, played by Thais Galitzky. Thais causes a noble friend and rival in love (Leonidoff) to commit suicide by racing with her horse towards an abyss. Thais repents and kills herself by mortal vapours, in the only scene where we really see futurist settings, designed by Enrico Prampolini. Curiously enough, in the film Leonidoff's character was named Bianca Stagno-Bellincioni, the name of a real and known actress. Maybe because the real Stagno-Belllincioni was the Italian interpreter of Massenet's Thais.
![Ileana Leonidoff]()
Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: publicity still for one of Leonidoff's costume films.
Period Pieces
Ileana Leonidoff had leads in several period pieces directed by Aldo Molinari for the Vera Film company and almost always opposite Guido Guiducci. The first of these was Saffo (1918), where Leonidoff played the title role, followed by Maria di Magdala (1918), Venere/Venus (1919), Il mistero di Osiris/The mystery ofOsiris(1919) and Giuditta e Oloferne/Judith andHolofernes(1920). She also performed in films by renowned directors such as Augusto Genina (Il siluramento dell'Oceania/The torpedoingof Oceania, 1917), Leopoldo Carlucci (La flotta degliemigranti/The fleetof migrants, 1917), Febo Mari (Attila, 1918), Eleuterio Rodolfi (Il mistero della casa di fronte/The mysteryof the house across, 1919) and Ugo Falena (Giuliano l'Apostata/Julian theApostate, 1919; Il volo degli aironi/Theflight of herons, 1920). She had a minor part as Tamah in La sacra Bibbia/The Bible (1920, Pier Antonio Gariazzo) with Bruto Castellani, a film in which her co-partner Guiducci played Moses. Costumes for this film were by the well-known Caramba (Luigi Sapelli). The film was shown worldwide, in the US too (in 1922, under the title After Six Days). After one more film by Molinari, Il principe di Kaytan (1922) Leonidoff withdrew from the cinema. She went back to dancing. Together with Dimitri Rostaff she was the first director of the newly founded dance school of the Teatro Reale dell'Opera of Rome in 1928. She remained active in Italy as a choreographer in the 1930's. On the eve of World War II, she emigrated to South America. In 1951 she was the first director of the newly founded Ballet Oficial de Bolivia. In the mid-1950's she was also highly active in Guayaquil, Equador, at the Casa de la Cultura del Guayas. They still have a Sala Ileana Leonidoffthere, opened in 1991. Last year the biography Ileana Leonidoff: lo schermo e la danza (IleanaLeonidoff: the screen andthe dance, 2009) written by Laura Piccolo was published. Our sources did not give details about when or where Ileana Leonidoff died.
![Ileana Leonidoff]()
Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 180.
Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, 1917/1918/1919/1920), Italian Gerry and IMDb.
Vintage Italian postcard.
Futurist Film
Ileana Leonidoff was born as Elena Sergeevna Pisarevskaja in 1893. She started her career as a dancer and was the inventor of the 'Russian Dance Leonidoff'. She made her film debut in the legendary futurist film Thais (1917, Anton Giulio Bragaglia). Three quarters of this film is a classic diva drama about a man-devouring woman, played by Thais Galitzky. Thais causes a noble friend and rival in love (Leonidoff) to commit suicide by racing with her horse towards an abyss. Thais repents and kills herself by mortal vapours, in the only scene where we really see futurist settings, designed by Enrico Prampolini. Curiously enough, in the film Leonidoff's character was named Bianca Stagno-Bellincioni, the name of a real and known actress. Maybe because the real Stagno-Belllincioni was the Italian interpreter of Massenet's Thais.
Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna. Photo: publicity still for one of Leonidoff's costume films.
Period Pieces
Ileana Leonidoff had leads in several period pieces directed by Aldo Molinari for the Vera Film company and almost always opposite Guido Guiducci. The first of these was Saffo (1918), where Leonidoff played the title role, followed by Maria di Magdala (1918), Venere/Venus (1919), Il mistero di Osiris/The mystery ofOsiris(1919) and Giuditta e Oloferne/Judith andHolofernes(1920). She also performed in films by renowned directors such as Augusto Genina (Il siluramento dell'Oceania/The torpedoingof Oceania, 1917), Leopoldo Carlucci (La flotta degliemigranti/The fleetof migrants, 1917), Febo Mari (Attila, 1918), Eleuterio Rodolfi (Il mistero della casa di fronte/The mysteryof the house across, 1919) and Ugo Falena (Giuliano l'Apostata/Julian theApostate, 1919; Il volo degli aironi/Theflight of herons, 1920). She had a minor part as Tamah in La sacra Bibbia/The Bible (1920, Pier Antonio Gariazzo) with Bruto Castellani, a film in which her co-partner Guiducci played Moses. Costumes for this film were by the well-known Caramba (Luigi Sapelli). The film was shown worldwide, in the US too (in 1922, under the title After Six Days). After one more film by Molinari, Il principe di Kaytan (1922) Leonidoff withdrew from the cinema. She went back to dancing. Together with Dimitri Rostaff she was the first director of the newly founded dance school of the Teatro Reale dell'Opera of Rome in 1928. She remained active in Italy as a choreographer in the 1930's. On the eve of World War II, she emigrated to South America. In 1951 she was the first director of the newly founded Ballet Oficial de Bolivia. In the mid-1950's she was also highly active in Guayaquil, Equador, at the Casa de la Cultura del Guayas. They still have a Sala Ileana Leonidoffthere, opened in 1991. Last year the biography Ileana Leonidoff: lo schermo e la danza (IleanaLeonidoff: the screen andthe dance, 2009) written by Laura Piccolo was published. Our sources did not give details about when or where Ileana Leonidoff died.
Italian postcard by G. Vettori, Bologna, no. 180.
Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Il cinema muto italiano, 1917/1918/1919/1920), Italian Gerry and IMDb.