Astrid Lepa

Astrid Lepa April 7 1924 November 30 2015 was an Estonian stage television voice and film actress screenwriter and television director whose career began in the 1940s and ended shortly before her death spanning over sixty years Astrid Lepa was born Astrid Lepler in Keila Harju County to Eduard and Marta Lepler née Beekman Her father was a locksmith She had one younger sister Ester Lepa 19282013 who would go on to become a prominent singer soprano and music and vocal pedagogue The family would change their surname to Lepa in 1936 She attended schools in Tallinn and graduated Tallinn 9th Secondary School in 1942 during World War II From 1942 until 1946 she studied acting at the Estonian Drama Theatre and from 1948 until 1950 studied at Tallinn Conservatory now the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre In 1952 Astrid Lepa was the artistic director of the Nõmme Cultural House and briefly worked as the administrator and director of the Pioneer cinema in Tallinn In 1957 Lepa began working as an assistant director scenarist screenwriter and director at Eesti Televisioon ETV Throughout the 1960s Lepa largely directed televised performances of Estonian musical concerts as well as several musical television films including the 1965 musical film Kolmest kaheteistkümneni which was also written by Lepa and the 1968 musical variety film Suvel One Lepas earliest directorial releases was the music series Muusikaelu probleeme ja sündmusi from 1963 until 1965 Lepa would work in a variety of positions with ETV until 1979 producing content directing television plays screenwriting and in advertising During her career with ETV Lepa also appeared in several feature films and television films In 1964 she had a significant role as Juula in the Grigori Kromanov and Jüri Müürdirected dramatic feature film Põrgupõhja uus Vanapagan for Tallinnfilm based on the 1939 novel of the same name by A H Tammsaare In 1970 she appeared as Taavis mother in the Veljo Käsperdirected drama Tuulevaikus based on the Einar Maasikpenend novel Tuisu Taavi seitse päeva also released by Tallinnfilm In 1973 she appeared as Madam Papp in the Leida Laiusdirected Tallinnfilm drama Ukuaru based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Veera Saar In 1977 she played the role of Grandmother in the television family film Vanaema õunapuu otsas based on the 1973 childrens book of the same name by Mira Lobe In 1978 Lepa had a small role in the Russian language action feature film Veter Nadezhdy directed by Stanislav Govorukhin and the following year appeared as Grandmother Adelheid in the Estonian television family film Nõiakivi directed by Uno Leies for ETV Astrid Lepa began work as a voice actress while dubbing films at Tallinn Kinostuudio now Tallinnfilm in 1949 She also performed as a voice actress in a number of radio plays in works by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald David Samoylov Yanka Kupala Ferenc Molnár William Shakespeare and Federico García Lorca among others Astrid Lepa was married to baritone Harry Vilpart until his death in 1997 The couple had one son radio journalist and actor Margus Lepa