Leida Rammo

Leida Rammo (18 April 1924 – 23 July 2020)[1][2] was an Estonian stage, radio, television, and film actress and theatre director whose career spanned over seven decades.

[5] Shortly after graduating from secondary school, Rammo left Estonia to work as an au pair and domestic servant for a Spanish-born woman and her German husband in Aussig, in the German-annexed Sudetenland.

[7] Rammo had lost contact with her mother and sister during the later stages of the war and assumed they had fled Estonia for Sweden when the Soviets reoccupied the country in 1944.

Following the end of hostilities, she became a displaced person and met a young Belgian man named François on a train who offered her a place to stay with his family in Liège.

[4] After several months in Belgium, she contemplated emigrating to the United States of America, but ultimately decided to return to Estonia, which had been reoccupied and annexed by the Soviet Union.

Among her graduating classmates were actors Olev Tinn, Einari Koppel, and Linda Rummo, and filmmaker Leida Laius.

Her first significant film role was that of Lisete in the 1964 Grigori Kromanov and Jüri Müür-directed Tallinnfilm epic-drama Põrgupõhja uus Vanapagan, based on the 1939 novel of the same name by A. H.

[13] Rammo, however, was initially displeased when she saw herself in film dailies and was overly-critical of her appearance and acting,[1] but the following year accepted a smaller role in the Tallinnfilm drama Mäeküla piimamees, directed by former Estonian State Theatre Institute classmate Leida Laius, and adapted from the 1916 novel of the same name by Eduard Vilde.

Some notable performances of the era include the roles of Elve in the 1972 Kaljo Kiisk-directed drama Maaletulek, and as Laine in the 1972 Sulev Nõmmik-directed comedy television film Noor pensionär for Eesti Telefilm.

Some notable performances of the era include the 1992 Lembit Ulfsak-directed family-comedy film Lammas all paremas nurgas, the 1995 Andrew Grieve-directed English and Estonian language drama Kirjad idast, and the 1998 Rao Heidmets-directed family film Kallis härra Q, which was an adaptation of story of the same name by children's author Aino Pervik.