Alla Rustaykis was a Soviet poet-songwriter and actress, born in Moscow on May 27, 1920. Her mother, Ida Khvass, was a pianist, and her father, Alexander Rustaykis, was an actor and director.
In her youth, Rustaykis became known as an actress at the Kuibyshev Opera and Ballet Theatre. She wrote poetry throughout her life. Songs with her lyrics included “On a Distant Journey,” with music by Alexander Tsfasman, and “Snowfall,” with music by Alexey Ekimyan. Her songs were performed by Nani Bregvadze, Valery Obodzinsky, Alla Bayanova, and Lyudmila Gurchenko.
Rustaykis also wrote several operetta librettos. These included Rauf Hajiyev’s Romeo, My Neighbor, co-written with D. Kisin; Enver Bakirov’s The First Torch; a Russian-language version of Gorney Kramer’s musical comedy Sunday in Rome, co-written with A. Gusev; and Jacques Offenbach’s operetta The Roofs of Paris, co-written with her husband Nikolai Basilov. A collection of her other poems, Snowfall, was published in 2000.
Rustaykis died in Moscow on May 28, 2008, and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery.
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