"In the chair seat, I sewed my diamonds," pronounced the mother-in-law of Hippolyte Vorobyaninov on her deathbed in the film "12 Chairs" by Leonid Gaidai. The actress who played Klavdiya Ivanovna did so brilliantly. Thanks to her pre-revolutionary speech, aristocratic manners, and haughty smile, it was believable: she, an old noblewoman, could hide treasures from her son-in-law, who squandered a fortune. And indeed, she was an old noblewoman. The role of the mother-in-law was played by Evdokiya Urusova, a representative of the ancient Urusov family.

Evdokiya Yuryevna was born in 1908, and from childhood, she engaged in dancing and successfully passed the entrance exams to the Artistic Theater even before finishing gymnasium. However, soon the October Revolution began, and she had to forget her former life. Urusova made a living acting in silent films and theaters. This continued for almost 20 years until she was arrested in 1938 based on a false denunciation.

It quickly became clear what hell she had entered. Political and criminal prisoners were placed in the same car, and the criminals began to take everything valuable from the political prisoners. They got to Urusova as well. But she showed her fighting spirit: she broke a window and, holding a shard in her hand, threatened to cut anyone who approached. She spent almost 10 years in DalLag, working as a milkmaid and in logging, but even in these conditions, she found time for creativity, performing in the local Gulag theater.

In 1947, she was released early, but two years later, she was arrested again under the infamous Article 58. Friends saved her: actors from the Norilsk theater organized her invitation to their theater. There, she acted alongside other "captives" like Innokenty Smoktunovsky and Georgy Zhzhonov.

She returned to Moscow only in 1955. In the capital's theaters, they joked that a princess was on stage. Evdokiya, laughing, replied: a princess is the wife of a prince, and she is the daughter of a prince, so she is a princess. Nevertheless, by the end of her life, she managed to play almost 200 roles, including the role of the mother-in-law of Kisa Vorobyaninov on screen.