Maria Britneva, Baroness St Just, known as Maria St Just, was a Russian-British actress who was a close friend of Tennessee Williams.
27 Facts About Maria Britneva
1.
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Maria Britneva was born in Petrograd in the Soviet Union.
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Maria Britneva's father, Alexander Britnev, was a physician who served in the Red Army and was shot in the purges of 1930.
4.
Maria Britneva was brought up in Hammersmith, where her mother settled and worked as a translator of Chekhov, and by teaching Russian and French.
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Maria Britneva instead studied acting at Michel Saint-Denis's London Theatre Studio school, where she was a contemporary of Peter Ustinov, and John Gielgud employed her in his London theatre company, but he and others considered her a poor actress.
6.
In 1948, at a party at her friend John Gielgud's house in Chelsea, Maria Britneva met Tennessee Williams and they became passionate life-long friends.
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Maria Britneva discussed the friendship with a psychotherapist, but essentially Britneva and Williams were close friends.
8.
Maria Britneva wrote epitaphs for her diabetic cousin, with whom she had been brought up, and her bulldog, who always snarled at him.
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Maria Britneva often traveled with Williams and his partner Frank Merlo; at one point, he said he felt guilty about using her as bait to attract others.
10.
Maria Britneva was reported to be the inspiration for the character of Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
11.
Maria Britneva was rumoured to have slept with Marlon Brando, and other affairs included one with John Huston; according to some reports, she had an abortion in 1951.
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Maria Britneva fell in love with James Laughlin, and in 1954 they became engaged to be married.
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Maria Britneva has been quoted as saying that life with Britneva would have been too restless, and that he had not realized how committed she was to the theatre.
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In 1956, Maria Britneva met an English peer, Peter Grenfell, second Lord St Just, and married him on 25 July 1956.
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Maria Britneva's mother had been in Canada and returned to England, arriving the day after the wedding.
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Maria Britneva was then resident of 24, Tennyson Mansions, Hammersmith.
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In marrying St Just, Maria Britneva became Lady St Just, stepmother of Laura Claire Grenfell, his six-year-old daughter by his first wife, Leslie Nast, daughter of Conde Nast.
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Maria Britneva kept up her friendship with Williams, who was a frequent visitor to both Wilbury House, her new home in England, and her London home next door to Noel Coward's house in Gerald Road, Belgravia.
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In 1964, Maria Britneva's mother died at the St George's Retreat, Burgess Hill, West Sussex, and was buried in Earl's Court, her funeral being conducted by the Russian Orthodox Bishop of Great Britain, Nikodem.
20.
Maria Britneva was increasingly protective of him, going so far as to attempt to push his brother Dakin off a catwalk at the Lyceum Theatre after the Broadway opening of Out Cry in 1973.
21.
In 1975, Williams angered Maria Britneva by mentioning her only briefly in his memoirs, in which he referred to her as "an occasional actress" and said she was "afflicted with folie de grandeur".
22.
Maria Britneva was certainly the model for the Countess in his play This Is.
23.
Maria Britneva was sometimes cruel to the other women in his life, and probably caused him to dismiss his agent Audrey Wood.
24.
Maria Britneva refused permission for a biography by Margot Peters.
25.
In 1981, Maria Britneva's daughter Katya married Oliver Gilmour and had two children, Natalia Claire Gilmour was born on 1981 and and Marco Oliver Gilmour.
26.
Maria Britneva was given a small role as Daniel Day-Lewis' mother Mrs Vyse in the Merchant Ivory 1985 film, A Room With a View, and in 1987 their film Maurice starring Hugh Grant was filmed at her country house.
27.
Maria Britneva had minor parts in several films: Peccato che sia una Canaglia ; The Scapegoat ; Suddenly, Last Summer ; The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone ; A Room with a View ; and Maurice.