Victoria Fyodorova (formerly Pouy; January 18, 1946 – September 5, 2012) was a Russian-American actress and author. She was born shortly after World War II to Jackson Tate (1898–1978), then a captain in the United States Navy, and Russian actress Zoya Fyodorova (1909–1981), who had a brief affair before Tate was expelled from Moscow by Joseph Stalin. Victoria Fyodorova wrote the 1979 book, The Admiral's Daughter, which was about her experience attempting to reunite with her father.
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Early life
Fyodorova's mother, Zoya Fyodorova, was a well-known Soviet actress starting in the 1930s. In 1945, she met United States Navy Captain Jackson R. Tate (died 1978), a State Department deputy attaché stationed in Moscow; and they had an affair. Tate was warned to end the relationship by the Soviet Secret Police. Victoria was allegedly fathered on the day of World War II end celebration May 9, 1945.
When Stalin (or Lavrenty Beria) learned of the affair, Tate was declared persona non grata and expelled from Russia. Zoya Fyodorova was arrested and sent to Siberia for eight years. Their daughter, Victoria, was named for V-E Day. Victoria lived with her mother's sister in the Kazakh SSR until she was 8 years old, when her mother was released, not long after Stalin's death in 1953.
Victoria was also an actress in Russia, as her mother had been. She appeared in a number of well-received films, including a 1970 adaptation of Crime and Punishment. She was married briefly and divorced.