Salme Reek

Born: 1907-11-10

Salme Reek (November 10, 1907 – June 6, 1996) was an Estonian stage, film, radio, and television actress and stage director whose career spanned nearly seventy years; sixty-six of which were spent as an actress at the Estonian Drama Theatre. Salme Helene Reek was the oldest of three siblings born to paper pulp factory worker Juhan Reek and housewife Julia Reek (née Erberg) in Pärnu. Her younger siblings were Hilda (1911–1990), and Oskar (1922–1939) who died at age seventeen. During Reek's early years, the family lived in near-poverty in a one-room apartment on Suur-Kuke Street, later moving into a two-room studio apartment. Both of Reek's parents were keenly interested in music; her father Juhan played the piano and the harmonium and her mother Julia sang as a first soprano in the family's Lutheran church choir. Both parents were also theatre enthusiasts and Reek often attended theatre productions at Pärnu's Endla Theatre during her early childhood. Reek began her primary school studies in Pärnu before the family relocated to Tallinn, then returning to Pärnu approximately four years later. The family subsequently returned once more to Tallinn, where Reek attended secondary school at Tallinn 2nd Girls' Gymnasium (now, Tallinn Kristiine Gymnasium), graduating in 1927. Reek performed well in history and language classes and excelled in gymnastics. Just after graduation in 1927, Reek enrolled in studies at the Drama Theatre Studio School in Tallinn, founded in 1920 by actor and theatre pedagogue Paul Sepp, graduating in 1930. From 1929 until 1933, Reek studied dance with Estonian choreographer and dance teacher Gerd Neggo who, because of Reek's difficult financial situation, taught Reek without charge. Reek made her feature film debut in a small role in the 1969 Soviet-Estonian comedy-drama Hullumeelsus, directed by Kaljo Kiisk for Tallinnfilm. This was followed by the role of Epp in the Kiisk directed drama Tuuline rand in 1971, also for Tallinnfilm. In 1972, she played the role of Amanda in the Veljo Käsper directed and Enn Vetemaa penned World War II drama Väike reekviem suupillile. Reek also appeared in a number of other small roles in films during the 1970s, including the Veljo Käsper directed dramaTuulevaikus in 1971 and the Kaljo Kiisk directed romantic-drama Maaletulek in 1973. In 1976, she made an appearance in the Veljo Käsper directed drama film Aeg elada, aeg armastada. In 1981, Reek appeared in the role of the character Tuiska's wife in the Arvo Kruusement directed period drama Karge meri; a film adaptation of the 1938 novel of the same name by August Gailit about the lives of seal hunters in a small village on the Baltic Sea. In 1984, she appeared in the Helle Karis directed fantasy-family film Karoliine hõbelõng. In 1989, she appeared in the Igor Voznesensky directed Russian language science fiction film Idealnoe prestuplenie, and in 1991 appeared in a small role in another Russian language film, the Aleksandr Polynnikov directed adventure-comedy Obnazhyonnaya v shlyape. Other films include the 1992 Jüri Sillart directed period drama film Noorelt õpitud, the 1992 Lembit Ulfsak directed family-comedy film Lammas all paremas nurgas, and the 1993 Ilkka Järvi-Laturi directed dark comedy Tallinn pimeduses. Throughout her career, Reek also appeared in a number of short films


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Madness

as Gatekeeper
Released: 1969-02-17

Before the end of the Second World War, a special commando marches into a mental hospital...

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Lamb in the Down Right Corner

as Old Lady
Released: 1992-12-18

A warm movie about two boys, who discover a secret of a painting that was considered to be lost....

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City Unplugged

as Private Store Owner
Released: 1993-06-06

In August, 1991, Estonia reclaims its independence from the USSR and brings to its national bank...

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Pisuhänd

as Liina, Maid
Released: 1982-01-31

Classics of the Estonian plays about how a penniless man can become a millionaire and marry his...

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Giordano

as uncredited
Released: 1989-03-05

The protagonist of this satirical short is a photographer whose camera captures photos of...

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The Firewater

as Pimp
Released: 1994-04-14

At the end of the 1920-s the Finnish government proclaimed dry law which lasted 12 years....

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Candles in the Dark

as uncredited
Released: 1993-12-03

Candles in the Dark is the story of a girl who comes to visit her father's homeland, the Soviet...

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The Smacking Sea

as Storm Mother
Released: 1981-11-20

The Smacking Sea is a film about the work of traditional seal hunters on the smacking Baltic Sea...

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Perfect Crime

as Mrs. Nielsen
Released: 1989-12-01

The manufacturer lance Gerero on the basis of irrefutable evidence accused of killing a girl....

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Karoliine's Silver Yarn

as Keeper
Released: 1985-05-16

Karoliine is a spoiled and selfish princess who will meet swamp ogres and sleep fairies, a...

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Doubles

as Newspaper Editorial's Staff
Released: 1983-05-11

A musical comedy about singer Toomas Aringus and rally driver Mati Uibo, whom journalist Tiina...

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Fish Day

as Mother
Released: 1989-12-17

Human life in the absurd of the everyday

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Landing

as uncredited
Released: 1973-01-02

Reet loves her long-distance coxswain husband Rein, but the long separations have tortured her....

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Windy Beach

as Epp
Released: 1971-01-03

The coastal people of Kaugatoma set out to build their own ship to earn a living independent of...

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The Sunny Kids

as uncredited
Released: 1992-02-03

A movie about the life in a small Estonian city in the 1950s. Young people face an instinct for...

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Prompter

as Salme
Released: 1993-04-19

The last film directed by Kaljo Kiisk has been dedicated to theatre and the people in theatre....

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Võsakurat

as uncredited
Released: 1976-09-06

Peeter Simm's diploma film about a forest-guard and a Kyrgyz Red Army soldier in Estonia during...

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Little Requiem for Harmonica

as Amanda
Released: 1972-10-23

Students Jaan and Heiki in 1972, inexplicably, cross the river of time and arrive in 1944, the...

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Mishuk

as uncredited
Released: 1975-07-02

A musical comedy about the adventures of boys, girls and a bear cub named Mishuk.

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