Actress. She was married to the poet Sergei Essenin from 1917 to 1921. Known more for her great beauty and fiery temperament than for her acting ability, she nevertheless became a star at the theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold, whom she married in 1924. In 1939, Josef Stalin had Meyerhold arrested on trumped-up charges of anti-Soviet activities.  Three weeks later,  thugs acting on orders of Stalin’s secret police broke into Meyerhold’s Moscow apartment and savagely attacked Raikh;  she died of 17 stab wounds,  two of them through her eyes.  Meyerhold, who apparently never learned of Raikh’s death, was executed in 1940.  This ill-fated couple have been the subject of several stories and plays,  and their apartment is now the Meyerhold Museum. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Spouses:  Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (1895 – 1925)  Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874 – 1940)  Children:  Tatiana Sergeyevna Esenina (1918 – 1992)*  Konstantin Sergeyevich Esenin (1920 – 1986)* *Calculated relationship