Rachel Messerer

Rachel Mikhailovna Messerer-Plisetskaya (; 4 March 1902 – 20 March 1993), also known by her stage name Ra Messerer, was a Russian silent film and theatre actress. Family Rachel Messerer was born in Vilnius into the Lithuanian Jewish family of dentist Mikhail Messerer and his wife Sima Shabad. She was one of nine children: each child was given a biblical name: Pnina, Azariah, Mattany, Rachel, Asaf (or Assaf), Elisheva, Sulamith (or Shulamith), Emanuel, Abinadab and Erella. Rachel, her brother Azari Azarin (an actor), sister Sulamith Messerer (ballerina) and brother Asaf Messerer (ballet dancer, choreographer) became famous and started a dynasty of outstanding ballet dancers and ballet masters. She married well-known Russian diplomat Mikhail Plisetski (1899–1938) and they had three children: famous ballerina Maya Plisetskaya (1925–2015), talented balletmaster Alexander Plisetski (1931–1985) and principal dancer Azari Plisetski (1937–). Her granddaughter Anna Plisetskaya (1971–) is also a ballerina. Career Messerer graduated from Institute of Cinematography in 1925 (class of Lev Kuleshov). During the early years of Soviet system, Messerer starred at the "Bukhkino" and "The Star of the East" studios. Ra Messerer’s film career was rather short, because soon after the wedding she devoted herself to the family and her husband, who represented the Soviet Government in Spitsbergen, being the Consul General in Barentsburg and chief of coal mines.On 30 April 1937, her husband Mikhail Plisetski was purged, charged with espionage and executed on 8 January 1938.