Actress. She was nicknamed “Mama Sokolova” for her kindly maternal roles in Russian and international films. Sokolova’s output was so prodigious—an estimated 370 screen appearances—that she was listed in the Guiness Book of Records as “The World’s Most Prolific Actress”. Among her films are “And Quiet Flows the Don” (1957), “Resurrection” (1960), “Vaska’s Mother” (1960), “The Three Sisters” (1964), “Crime and Punishment” (1969), “Reckoning” (1970), “Remember Your Name” (1974), “The Last Escape” (1980), “I Shall Never Forget” (1983), “Forbidden Zone” (1988), “Blood for Blood” (1991), “Stalin’s Testament” (1993), and “At the Dawn of Our Youthful Years” (1997). Lyubov Sergeevna Sokolova was born in Ivanovo-Voznesensk, Russia, and made her stage debut in 1937. In 1940 she became a pupil of director Sergei Gerasimov at the Leningrad Theatre Institute and married a fellow student, actor Georgi Arapovsky. During the Nazi siege of Leningrad Sokolova nearly died of starvation, which killed her husband and most of her immediate family. As a survivor of this tragedy she was awarded a scholarship at the leading Soviet film school, the State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), where she studied until 1946. From 1951 to 1956 she performed with the Red Army Theatre Company in East Germany. Although she made her first film, “Story of a Real Man”, in 1948, Sokolova did not devote herself to the medium until the late 1950s. By then her mellow voice, sad smile and stocky figure had typed her into playing care-worn but resilient mothers. Her second husband was director Georgi Daneliya. Sokolova was named People’s Artist of the USSR in 1990. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Children:  Nikolay Georgievich Danelia-Sokolov (1959 – 1985)* *Calculated relationship