Maria Karnilova

{{Short description|American dancer and actress (1920–2001)}}

{{More citations needed|date=December 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Maria Karnilova

| image =

| imagesize =

| caption =

| occupation = Dancer, actress

| alias = Maria Karniloff
Maria Karnilovitch
Maria Irving

| birth_name = Maria Dovgolenko (or Dowholonok)

| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1920|8|3}}

| birth_place = Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2001|4|20|1920|8|3}}

| death_place = New York, New York, U.S.

| yearsactive = 1946–1988

| spouse = {{marriage|George S. Irving|1948}}

}}

Maria Karnilova (August 3, 1920 – April 20, 2001) was an American dancer and actress. She was initially known legally as Maria Karniloff.{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=CUG24&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-g&new=1&rank=1&gsfn=Maria&gsfn_x=0&gsln=Karnilovitch&gsln_x=0&MSAV=0&msbdy=1920&catbucket=rstp&uidh=57k&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=16063320&dbid=60901&indiv=1&ml_rpos=2|title=Ancestry Library Edition|website=Search.ancestrylibrary.com|accessdate=2016-12-29}}

She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Filip (Philip) and Stefanida Dovgolenko (or Dowholonok), emigrants from Tsarist Russia. The family later moved to Brooklyn, New York. She started her professional career in 1927 in the Children's Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera and joined the corps when Ballet Theater, now American Ballet Theatre, was founded in 1939. She adopted the name Karniloff, and later, Karnilova as her professional name. Her professional surname was often ascribed as her own mother's maiden name, however, that is inaccurate as her mother's maiden name was "Shlonskaya".{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc=CUG32&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&gss=angs-g&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsln=Shlonskaya&gsln_x=0&MSAV=0&catbucket=rstp&uidh=57k&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=766063320&dbid=60901&indiv=1&ml_rpos=1|title=Ancestry Library Edition|website=Search.ancestrylibrary.com|accessdate=2016-12-29}}

Karnilova made her Broadway debut in 1946 in Call Me Mister. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for the role of Golde in the original 1964 production of Fiddler on the Roof starring Zero Mostel and was nominated as Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Zorba (1968).{{cite news|author=Anna Kisselgoff |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/25/arts/maria-karnilova-80-star-of-ballets-and-broadway.html |title=Maria Karnilova, 80, Star Of Ballets and Broadway |newspaper=The New York Times |date=2001-04-25 |accessdate=2016-12-29}}

Other Broadway credits include Miss Liberty (1949), Two's Company (1952), Jerome Robbins' Ballet: U.S.A. (1958), Gypsy (as the original "Tessie Tura"; 1959), Bravo Giovanni (1962), Gigi (1973), God's Favorite (1974), Bring Back Birdie (1981), and the 1981 revival of Fiddler. Her film credits include The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) and Married to the Mob (1988).