Harden's first film role was in a 1979 student-produced movie at the University of Texas. Marcia Gay Harden with John Heald on the cruise ship Carnival Dream in November 2009
Harden's other notable television roles include Dr Leanne Rorish in the CBS medical drama Code Black and attorney Rebecca Halliday in the HBO Aaron Sorkin series The Newsroom. Harden was nominated for her second Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the 2009 television film The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler. Her performance won her the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She returned to Broadway in 2009 as Veronica in God of Carnage. Harden made her Broadway debut in 1993, starring in Angels in America, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Her other notable film roles include American Gun (2005), 2007's The Mist and Into the Wild and Fifty Shades film series from 2015 to 2018. She earned another Academy Award nomination for her performance as Celeste Boyle in Mystic River (2003).
For her performance as artist Lee Krasner in the 2000 film Pollock, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She followed this with roles in films including Used People (1992), The First Wives Club (1996), and Flubber (1997). Her film breakthrough was in the 1990 Coen brothers-directed Miller's Crossing. If using any of Russia Beyond's content, partly or in full, always provide an active hyperlink to the original material.Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. Soon, Russia Beyond will tell you the story of this other fascinating piece. In addition to the Tsar Cannon, there is also a Tsar Bell. These cannonballs are purely decorative and are too large to be used, even with the Tsar Cannon. It was at this time that the cannonballs that now sit in the front of the weapon were also made.
Later, the current cast-iron one was created. In the 18th century, the cannon was moved to the Kremlin Arsenal.ĭuring the Napoleonic Invasion in 1812, there was a fire in Moscow and the cannon’s wooden carriage was destroyed. It was supposed to be used to defend access to the Kremlin from the east, but it was never used in any real fighting. The cannon was mounted on a special frame and placed in Red Square. The information we have about the way the Tsar Cannon was used also contradicts the theory that it was produced solely for propagandistic purposes. They found some gunpowder residue and came to the conclusion that the cannon had been fired at least once. However, in 1980, while the cannon was being restored, it was inspected by specialists from the Artillery Academy. According to this theory, the cannon was not meant to be used and has never even fired a shot. Some people have argued that Chokhov created his cannon as a way to impress foreigners with the alleged might of the Moscow state, not to be used as a real weapon. However, it’s more popularly believed that the name is instead connected to the massive size of this weapon, something that was absolutely extraordinary for the time. There is a theory that the cannon received its name because of this image of the tsar. There is an inscription above the figure of the tsar that says “The grace of God, Tsar and Great Duke Fyodor Ivanovich, Autocrat of all Great Russia.” There are two other labels, one tells us who made the cannon, and the other specifies that it was made at the tsar’s request. He is depicted with a crown on his head and a scepter in his hand, sitting on horseback. There is an image of the tsar on the barrel of the gun. The cannon was made by the Russian bronze caster Andrey Chokhov in Moscow.Ĭhokhov made this grand cannon during the reign of Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, a son of Ivan the Terrible. It’s also worth keeping in mind that the mortars were produced in the 19th and 20th centuries, with the use of (relatively) modern technology, while the Tsar Cannon was cast in bronze and dates from 1586. However, these weapons are mortars, not cannons, and that means the Tsar’s Cannon at the Kremlin is an unsurpassed piece of artillery. Larger artillery weapons do exist, such as the Mallet’s Mortar in the United Kingdom and Little David in the United State, which both have calibers of 914 millimeters. The Tsar Cannon’s caliber is 890 millimeters. The cannon itself weighs almost 40 tons and takes 200 horses to transport. It was designed to shoot cannonballs that each weighed 800 kilograms. The Tsar Cannon at the Moscow Kremlin is designated in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest bombard (a late medieval cannon used to hurl large stones) by caliber in the world.