Fredda Brilliant

Brilliant sculpted some of the greatest figures of her time including Jawaharlal Nehru, V.K. Krishna Menon, Indira Gandhi, U.S. President John F Kennedy, and Buckminster Fuller. She also sculpted her husband, the writer Herbert Marshall. Her writing credits include Biographies in Bronze (1986), The Black Virgin (1986), Women in power (1987) and Truth in Fiction (1986). Brilliant's most famous work is a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi which is the centerpiece of the park in Tavistock Square, London, UK.

• Born — 7 April 1903 • Birthplace — Łódź, Poland • Died — 25 May 1999 • Place of death — Carbondale, Illinois, United States • Spouse — Herbert Marshall • Field — sculpture, writing, acting, singing

Fredda Brilliant emigrated with her Jewish parents to Melbourne, Australia in 1924. The Brilliant family were active in Yiddish theatrical and cultural circles. During her spell in Australia she honed her acting talent and also co-founded a Melbourne Theatre, in the late 1920s she moved to New York City to embark on a career as an actress. In 1935 whilst living in Moscow she married the esteemed film-writer and lecturer, Herbert Marshall; the two remained in Russia until 1937 when they moved to London. In 1939 Fredda and Marshall completed the script for the socialist film, The Proud Valley which was released the following year. As war broke out Fredda began touring with a theatrical company and most notably appeared in the production of Robert Ardrey's 1939 anti-fascist play Thunder Rock alongside Michael Redgrave and then Albert Finney at The Globe in London in 1947. In 1949 she co-produced, with Marshall, the drama-documentary film Tinker. During the 1950s and early 1960s Fredda and Herbert lived in India where he lectured and made government films and she sculpted some of the most significant figures of the age including Jawaharlal Nehru, V.K Krishna Menon and Indira Gandhi. In 1966 the couple returned to the USA where he was offered a professorship in Soviet and East European studies at the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale. Other notable figures to have been sculpted by Fredda Brilliant include Buckminster Fuller, Maurice Bowra, Francis Warner and Duncan Grant.