Ellen Kaarma
| Ellen Kaarma | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
2 January 1928 Tartu, Estonia |
| Died | 4 June 1973 (aged 45) Tartu, Estonia |
| Nationality | Estonian |
| Other names | Ellen Kilgas |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1949 – 1971 |
| Spouse(s) | Gunnar Kilgas (1950 – 1952; divorced) |
| Children | Tõnu Kilgas (born 1954) |
Ellen Kaarma (2 January 1928 – 4 July 1973) was an Estonian stage and film actress.
Ellen Kaarma was born in Tartu, the only child from the marriage of accountant Artur Kaarma and Elisabeth Kaarma (née Kutsar). Her mother died when she was thirteen. She had two younger half-siblings from her father's second marriage; Jaak Kaarma (born 1943), who became a publisher and was a former Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic communist party politician; and a younger half-sister. Kaarma attended Tallinn 8th Secondary School, graduating in 1944 while Estonia was under German occupation during World War II.
In 1946 Kaarma began studying drama at the now defunct Estonian State Theatre Institute in Tallinn, graduating in 1949. Among her graduating classmates were actors Jüri Järvet, Ellen Alaküla and future husband Gunnar Kilgas.
Following graduation, Kaarma was engaged at the South Estonia Theatre in Võru with most of her graduating classmates from the Estonian State Theatre Institute. Kaarma's stage debut was as Viola, in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in 1949. However, the theatre was poorly funded and closed in 1951 after only two years of operation.
In 1951, Kaarma began a tumultuous engagement at Tartu's Vanemuine theatre, where she would perform in roles in works by such varied authors and playwrights as Honoré de Balzac, Leo Tolstoy, Bertolt Brecht and Anton Chekhov, among others, throughout her career with the theatre. At the time, the Vanemuine was under the direction of actor and stage pedagogue Kaarel Ird. Although praised for her ability as an actress, Kaarma's relationship with Ird was turbulent and the two were frequently at odds with one another and mired in personal and professional disputes. At one point, during the late 1950s, Kaarma was offered an engagement at the Estonian Drama Theatre in Tallinn by theatre director Ilmar Tammur. However, Ird refused to grant Kaarma permission to leave the Vanemuine. Kaarma's final appearance onstage at the Vanemuine was a role in the production of the Hugo Raudsepp comedic play Vedelvorst in 1967.
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