Biography

Aino Talvi (6 February 1909 – 12 March 1992) was an Estonian stage, film, and radio actress and singer whose career spanned over sixty years. Aino Talvi was born Aino Müller in Tartu to police constable August Müller and Miili Müller (née Lauson). She attended school at the Society of Education of Estonian Youth, Tartu Girls' Grammar School (now the Miina Härma Gymnasium) before the family moved to Mustvee in 1921. In 1922, Talvi's mother Miili died of pneumonia and the remaining family members moved back to Tartu, where she completed secondary school in 1927. Her father August would later remarry and change his surname to the more Estonian sounding Müür. Aino Talvi made her screen debut in the role of Eeva Miilas in the 1947 Herbert Rappaport directed Soviet-Estonian language drama film Elu tsitadellis (English: Life in a Citadel) for Lenfilm. Elu tsitadellis was the first post-World War II Estonian feature film following the annexation of Estonia into the Soviet Union. Based on the 1946 play of the same name by Estonian author and communist politician August Jakobson, the plot largely revolves around the arrival of the Soviet Army following the German occupation of Estonia in 1944 and justice being meted out to Estonians who had collaborated with German occupying forces. The film ends with jubilant Estonians celebrating their "liberation" and inclusion into the Soviet Union and accepting communist ideology. In 1956, Talvi appeared as Säinas in the Viktor Nevežin directed comedy-drama film Tagahoovis for Tallinna Kinostuudio. The film was an adaptation of the 1933 Oskar Luts' 1933 story of the same name. In 1959, Talvi had a small role as Hilda's mother in the Igor Yeltsov directed crime-drama Kutsumata külalised, also for Tallinna Kinostuudio. In 1969, she dubbed the voice for Latvian actress Elza Radziņa's character in the Grigori Kromanov directed Estonian language historical drama film Viimne reliikvia. In 1983, she appeared in another small role in the Valentin Kuik directed Tallinnfilm biopic Georg, chronicling the life of Estonian strongman and wrestler Georg Lurich. Aino Talvi also performed in a number of radio plays. Arguably the most memorable include Anton Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard in 1948, and Henrik Ibsen's The Wild Duck in 1959.