Theater and film actress Vera Alentova. Biography

Vera Alentova is a theater and film actress, People's Artist of Russia, whose career spans more than five decades. She gained national love after the release of the film "Moscow does not believe in tears", becoming one of the brightest and most recognizable stars of Soviet and Russian cinema. The actress has starred in more than 50 films and TV series, many of which have become iconic. Her work has been recognized with high titles and prestigious state awards.

Family and childhood

Vera Alentova was born on February 21, 1942 in Kotlas, Arkhangelsk region. The future actress was born in the family of actors Valentin Bykov and Irina Alentova. At the age of eight, she first appeared on the stage, participating in amateur performances in the courtyard. However, her mother, who had known the difficult life of an actress, wanted her daughter to get a more reliable specialty, for example, a doctor.

After the death of her father, three—year-old Vera and her mother moved to Krivoy Rog in Ukraine, and then to Uzbekistan. The actress graduated from high school in Barnaul, where the family lived with her new stepfather, also an actor. Despite poverty and everyday difficulties, she did not give up the dream of an acting career. And it was her stepfather who supported her first creative impulses.

After graduation, Alentova applied to a medical institute, as her mother wanted, but at the same time she joined the Barnaul Drama Theater, where she was hired as an auxiliary actress. This step caused a family conflict, but determined her future fate.

In the early 1960s, Vera Alentova went to Moscow. But before moving to the capital, she had to work as a handyman at the Barnaul melange plant, which later helped to reliably play a similar experience of her character in the famous Oscar-winning film.

Studying at the Moscow Art Theater Studio school

The determination and talent of the young actress were rewarded. She successfully entered the Moscow Art Theater Studio School the first time, having withstood a high competition. The course was led by the famous theater teacher Vasily Markov, who laid the foundations for the professional skills of the future screen star.

The years of study became for Alentova not only a time of formation as an actress, but also a period that defined her personal life. Within the walls of the educational institution, she met her future husband, Vladimir Menshov. Moreover, it took the famous actor and director four attempts to become a student.

Despite the skepticism of some teachers who warned the student against a relationship with Menshov, feelings flared up between the young people, becoming the basis of a strong lifelong union.

Roles in theater and cinema

While still studying, Vera Alentova began her professional career at the Orsk Drama Theater named after Pushkin. Her debut role on stage was Maya in the play "Irkutsk Story" based on the play by Alexei Arbuzov. In parallel with his theatrical work, he also made his film debut. At that time, students were not allowed to combine their studies with filming, and Alentova risked being expelled, but she did not give up the role.

In 1965, she played the teacher Lydia Fedorovna in the drama about fighter pilots "Flying Days". Filming took place at the Dovzhenko Kiev Film Studio, and the actress remembered this experience as difficult but instructive. She later admitted that when she saw herself on the screen, she was disappointed with her own stiffness.

After receiving her diploma, the actress was accepted into the troupe of the Moscow Pushkin Drama Theater, to which she remained faithful throughout the next six decades. Her first role on this stage was Raina in the play "The Chocolate Soldier" based on the play by Bernard Shaw. The production was a great success and has been staged more than three hundred times.

Over the years, Alentova has created a whole gallery of vivid images in the theater. She played in plays based on the works of Maxim Gorky "The Zykovs" and "Children of the Sun", in the lyrical drama "Warsaw Melody" by Leonid Zorin, in Marina Tsvetaeva's tragedy "Phaedra" and in the production "Happy Days" by Samuel Beckett, for which she was awarded the Crystal Turandot Theater award.

In 1979, Vladimir Menshov's film "Moscow does not Believe in Tears" was released. The picture, which tells about the life of three friends, became a cultural phenomenon and forever inscribed the name of the actress in the history of Russian cinema. More than 80 million viewers watched it during the year. Vera Alentova was recognized as the best actress of the year by the Soviet Screen magazine. And in 1981, the film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

The audience remembered the actress for her roles in the film adaptation of Boris Vasiliev's novel "Tomorrow was the War" (1987), in the comedy "Shirley-Myrli" (1995), where she masterfully played four different roles at once, and in the melodrama "Envy of the Gods" (2000). The last film work of the actress was the role of the goddess Ishtar Borisovna in the film Empire V (2022) based on the novel by Viktor Pelevin.

Awards and titles

Vera Alentova has been awarded many prestigious prizes and awards. She was awarded the Order of Friendship (2001), the Order of Honor (2007), the Pushkin Medal (2019), and the Orders of Merit for the Fatherland, IV (2012) and III (2022) degrees.

The professional community also appreciated her work. In addition to the Crystal Turandot Award, the actress won the TEFI Television Award (2008) and was awarded the Andrei Mironov Acting Prize Figaro (2019).

In addition, Alentova was active in teaching, being a professor and head of a workshop at VGIK, where she joined to teach in 2009.

Personal life

Vera Alentova's personal life was inextricably linked with her husband Vladimir Menshov and daughter Yulia. The actress and the director got married in 1962, modestly celebrating the wedding in a dormitory. In 1969, the couple had their only daughter, a future actress and TV presenter.

The relationship between Alentova and Menshova has been through many trials. When Yulia was three years old, her parents made the difficult decision to separate and lived separately for about four years without officially divorcing. At that time, the actress devoted herself entirely to working in the theater, and her daughter lived with her grandmother.

According to the People's Artist, reconciliation with her husband was facilitated by old letters that they wrote to each other on tour, being away from home. The family reunited when Julia started first grade, and since then they have not been separated. In 2012, for the golden wedding, Vera Alentova and Vladimir Menshov got married in a church.

Cause of death

The director died on July 5, 2021. The actress outlived her husband by four years. She died on December 25, 2025. Vera Alentova passed away at the age of 83 after she came to say goodbye to her colleague, People's Artist of Russia Anatoly Lobotsky at the Mayakovsky Theater.

According to media reports, during the farewell ceremony at the coffin, Alentova's health deteriorated sharply. An ambulance was called, doctors treated her on the spot, and then transported her to the hospital, but the actress could not be saved. The preliminary cause of death is called acute heart failure. In recent months, according to some reports, Alentova suffered from an exacerbation of hypertension.

Until the last days of her life, Vera Alentova remained faithful to the stage, continuing to play in the theater and passing on her experience to students. The death of the People's Artist of Russia was a huge loss for Russian art.

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