Manzura Hamidova

Manzura Hamidova was born on 8 March 1914 in Tashkent. She began her stage career in 1934, working at the Workers' Youth Theatre in Tashkent (1934–1936), the theatre in Termez, Surkhandarya (1936–1941), and the Muqimiy musical theatre (1941–1943).

In her early years she played leading parts in musical dramas; among her early roles are Gulchehra in «Arshin mol olon» and Oysara in «Gulsara».

From 1943 until the end of her life, more than half a century, she worked at the Tashkent Theatre of Young Spectators (now the State Youth Theatre of Uzbekistan), where she became known for playing mothers and grandmothers as well as stepmothers.

Her repertoire there included «Qovoqvoy va Chanoqvoy», «Abdulla Nabiyev», «Oq kema», «O'z uyingdasan», «Chippolino», «Kim aybdor?», «Zumrad va Qimmat», «Sirli sandiq», «Yoriltosh» and «Shum bola».

She also appeared regularly in the Uzbek television programme «Otalar so'zi — aqlning ko'zi».

She was named People's Artist of Uzbekistan in 1969; since that was before 1991, the site records it as the title of the Uzbek SSR. In 1997 she received the Order of Labour Glory.

Manzura Hamidova died in Tashkent on 4 October 1998. By a presidential decree of 28 May 2026 she was posthumously awarded the Order «For Selfless Service».