Olga Leonardovna Knipper-Chekhova (; – 22 March 1959) was a Russian and Soviet stage actress. She was married to Anton Chekhov. Knipper was among the 39 original members of the Moscow Art Theatre when it was formed by Konstantin Stanislavski in 1898. She played Arkadina in The Seagull (1898), played Elena in the Moscow premiere of Uncle Vanya (1899), and was the first to play Masha in Three Sisters (1901) and Madame Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard (1904). She married Anton Chekhov, the author of these plays, in 1901. She played Ranevskaya again in 1943, when the theatre marked the 300th performance of The Cherry Orchard. Early life Knipper was born on in Glazov to Austrian-born Leonhardt August Knipper and Russian Anna Ivanovna von Saltza of Baltic German descent. Though both of her parents were of German origin, her father claimed Russia as their family heritage. Around the time of Olga's birth, her father, Leonard, was in charge of a factory in Glazov, a small town northeast of European Russia. Two years after she was born, her family moved to Moscow, where they became accustomed to an upper-middle-class lifestyle. Growing up in between her two brothers, Konstantin and Vladimir, Olga was pampered. She attended a private school for girls, was fluent in French, German and English, and took music and singing lessons after rigorous school days. She showed considerable promise as a painter and was her own accompanist on the piano when she entertained friends and family at dinner parties. Her father, however, who was anxious to conform to the social conventions of his adopted country, made it clear that Olga's aspirations should be confined to marrying well and becoming a housewife. Her mother, a talented singer and pianist, had been forced to give up any hopes of a career in the arts, and felt that Olga should do the same. In 1894, Olga's father died unexpectedly, leaving the 25-year-old and her mother with debts he left behind from living well beyond their means. They began giving music and singing lessons to make ends meet, dismissed four of their five servants, and moved to a smaller flat. Olga's hopes of becoming a successful stage actress had not yet diminished. Proceeding with her intentions without her mother's approval, and giving up her social circle relations, were sacrifices she was willing to make: "Whenever in my life I really wanted something, and