Lyudmila Gurchenko, People's Artist of the USSR. Biography

Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko is a Soviet and Russian actress, People's Artist of the USSR and Winner of the State Prize of the Russian Federation. She became widely known after starring in the films Carnival Night (1956), The Straw Hat (1974), Five Evenings (1978), Love and Doves (1984), My Sailor Girl (1990) and many others. About the childhood, career and personal life of the actress — in the material of Izvestia.

Childhood and education

The actress was born on November 12, 1935 in the city of Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR. Her father Mark Gavrilovich Gurchenko (Gurchenkov) was a farmhand and a supporter of the October Revolution. He was also a professional musician: he played the accordion and sang at matinees and celebrations. The mother of the actress Elena Aleksandrovna Simonova-Gurchenko came from a noble family. She helped her husband to hold musical evenings and holidays.

In 1941, after the outbreak of World War II, Gurchenko's father went to the front, and the actress herself, who was only six years old at the time, ended up in German-occupied Kharkov with her mother. As the artist recalled, she had to sing for the invaders in order to get at least some food.

In the autumn of 1943, after the liberation of Kharkov, the future artist went to school, and a year later she entered the L. Beethoven Music School. In 1953, she moved to Moscow, where she became a student at VGIK. There, the artist studied in the workshop of Soviet actors Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. As a third—year student, Gurchenko performed her first dramatic role, Amalia, in Friedrich Schiller's production of The Robbers. In 1958, she graduated from VGIK.

The beginning of a career and its decline

In 1956, the actress made her film debut, playing the role of Lucy in the novel "The Road of Truth" by Jan Fried. Gurchenko's second film was "The Heart Beats Again" directed by Abram Room.

She became widely known after she played the main role of Lena Krylova in the comedy directed by Eldar Ryazanov "Carnival Night". The actress became a real "sex symbol" of the 50s - her photos appeared on the covers of fashion magazines, many women dreamed of a dress "like Gurchenko's".

After filming Carnival Night, they wrote a script for the film "Girl with a Guitar" specifically for the actress, hoping for her popularity, but the project did not become successful.

In 1958, a feuilleton was published in the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, which criticized the creative evenings of some famous artists, including Gurchenko. After that, the actress was practically no longer offered roles, she disappeared from the screens for 10 years. During this period, Gurchenko earned money by performing concerts in factories and mines.

The resurgence of popularity

In the period from 1959 to 1969, Gurchenko starred in five films, including Roman and Francesca, Walking, Bicycle Tamers, No and Yes, and White Explosion. Despite the lack of great success in these films, the actress continued to act. From 1958 to 1964, she worked at the Theater Studio of a film actor (now Workshop "12" Nikita Mikhalkov). Later, Gurchenko worked at the Sovremennik Theater in Moscow.

Despite actively shooting in projects, the actress continued to remain inconspicuous until the early 1970s. However, everything changed later. Gurchenko regained her status as one of the leading Soviet artists after starring in several musical films, in particular, in "The Tobacco Captain" (1972), "The Straw Hat" (1974), "Heavenly Swallows" (1976) and "The Magic Lantern" (1976).

In 1976, she received the main role in Alexei German's war drama "Twenty Days without War," where she starred alongside actor Yuri Nikulin. Three years later, in 1979, a film directed by Nikita Mikhalkov "Five Evenings" was released, in which the actress played the main role of Tamara Vasilyevna.

In the 1980s, projects with Gurchenko's participation were a great success. In 1981, she played the role of employee Margarita Solovyova in Peter Todorovsky's melodrama "The Beloved Woman of Mechanic Gavrilov," and a year later she won the prize for best Actress at the Manila International Film Festival.

In 1983, Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, awarded Gurchenko the title of People's Artist of the USSR for her role as Vera Nefedova, a waitress, in Eldar Ryazanov's lyrical comedy Station for Two. This image of a barmaid in silk blouses with shoulder pads, puff sleeves and tight pencil skirts was then imitated by many Soviet women.

In the 1990s, the actress also played on the stage of the theater, where her most famous roles were Inga in the play "The Battlefield after Victory belongs to the Marauders" at the Satire Theater, Caroline Ashley in the play "Unattainable" at the Anton Chekhov Theater and Margarita in the musical "Bureau of Happiness", based on the story by Agatha Christie.The case of a middle-aged woman."

In 2009, Gurchenko shot her only directorial work, the film Motley Twilight, based on the story of the blind pianist Oleg Akkuratov. Two years later, she took part in the filming of the film "Legend. Lyudmila Gurchenko" in Kiev.

Personal life

Lyudmila Gurchenko had five husbands. In 1953-1955, she was married to film director, screenwriter and actor Vasily Ordynsky. Later, in 1958, the actress was married to screenwriter and historian Boris Andronikashvili. In 1959, their daughter Maria Koroleva was born. Later, the couple's relationship began to deteriorate, it was assumed that her husband even cheated on Gurchenko. They divorced in 1960.

After the divorce, the relationship between the actress and her daughter became strained. Gurchenko sent Maria to be raised by her grandmother in Kharkov, and she continued to develop her career and build a personal life. When the actress took her daughter away, the girl no longer wanted to live with her mother, even trying to escape to her grandmother several times.

Their relationship became very strained after Maria married a former classmate who her mother did not like. After that, they drifted apart, preferring to see each other only on holidays. In November 2017, Maria died of heart failure.

During her life, Gurchenko was in several more marriages. In 1967, she married pop singer Joseph Kobzon, but just three years later the star couple broke up. In 1991, during the filming of the film "The Fairy Tale," the actress met film producer Sergei Senin. The actress spent the last years of her life with him.

Death

In February 2011, Gurchenko slipped at her house, fell and broke her hip. She was hospitalized, and the actress underwent a complicated operation. In March of the same year, the actress' condition deteriorated sharply. Despite the efforts of doctors, Gurchenko died.

Farewell to the actress took place on April 2, 2011 at the Central House of Writers in Moscow. The funeral took place on the same day at the Novodevichy cemetery.

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