Vera Wilhelmowna Rust[1] (22 July 1940 – 3 April 2024), known as Vera Tschechowa, was a German producer, director, screenwriter, and actress of Russian descent. She appeared in more than 50 films between 1957 and 1996. She was widely known as Elvis Presley's companion, particularly in connection with his Oral Poliomyelitis Vaccine (OPV) public booster-advocacy and which they both undertook during Presley's first year in Germany with the U.S. Army (1959).
Her mother, Ada Tschechowa, was the daughter of Michael Chekhov (nephew of the Russian playwright and short story writer, Anton Chekov) and Olga Chekhova. Vera's name appeared, on 6 June 1971, as one of 28 women under the banner "We've had abortions!" ("Wir haben abgetrieben!") on the cover page of the West German magazine Stern. In that issue, 374 women publicly stated that they had had pregnancies terminated, which at that time was illegal.[2]
Vera Tschechowa died in Berlin on 3 April 2024, at the age of 83.[3]
