Ekaterina Fedorovna Savinova, honored artist of the RSFSR and Soviet actress, was born on December 26, 1926, in the village of Yeltsovka, Altai Krai, into a large peasant family.

After finishing school, she moved to Moscow. After an unsuccessful attempt to enter VGIK, Ekaterina studied for six months at a land surveying institute. Later, she successfully passed the competition and enrolled in the Institute of Cinematography, in the workshop of Boris Bibikov and Olga Pyzhova, where she studied alongside Nonna Mordyukova and Vyacheslav Tikhonov.

While studying at VGIK, Ekaterina met her future husband, Yevgeny Tashkov. Seven months after graduating from the institute in 1950, they got married. Savinova had a beautiful voice that spanned three octaves, but she never considered herself a singer. She was invited to work at the Moscow Art Theatre but declined, choosing to dedicate herself to film.

Ekaterina's first role was in 1949 in Ivan Pyriev's film "The Kuban Cossacks." However, despite being invited for major roles, she was often turned down at the last moment. Many attribute this to her being placed on the "black list" of Mosfilm after refusing to respond to the demands of its management.

Savinova's most significant role was that of Frosya Burlakova in the 1963 film "Come Tomorrow." The script was written by her husband, and the role was largely autobiographical: a simple Siberian girl, Frosya, moves to Moscow, enrolls in the conservatory, and manages to audition for a famous professor. After this film, the only significant role for Ekaterina was that of a cook in "The Marriage of Balzaminov." She also appeared in films such as "Come to Me, Mukhtar!", "The Road to the Sea", "Thirst by the Stream", "Zigzag of Fortune", and "Reckoning," where she played her last role.

In her final years, Savinova suffered from health issues. Realizing the incurability of her illness, she took her own life in 1970 by throwing herself under a train at the Novosibirsk station.

In 2011, a house-museum of the actress was opened in the village of Yeltsovka, where Ekaterina lived until her departure to Moscow in 1944.