Famous actresses of the USSR then and now (60 photos)

How many girls, looking at the beauties that our cinema is so rich in, dreamed of being at least a little like them. They fell in love with them, they were worshiped, they were idolized! However, in life everything is more complicated... And although now all the actresses say that they are happy with their fate, their happiness is very different. And this is not always the happiness of the family hearth. We decided to see how the first beauties of our cinema live today...

Irina Alferova: “No need for victims!”

Main role: Constance in the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers."

What today: she became the president of the family festival “Faithful Heart”, and is involved in charity work. Acts in plays. She has been married to actor Sergei Martynov for 10 years. There is a daughter, Ksenia, and a grandson.

- Irina, did you have any desire to devote yourself entirely to your family? - I asked the actress.

- No, it's very boring. I will not give this advice to any woman. Even children are proud of you and are drawn to you when you prove yourself!

Then if you don’t have time to do something, they will forgive you. The main thing is that you don’t have to sacrifice anything. We need to come to an agreement. Otherwise, both you and the children will suffer, because you will take negativity out on them.

- Isn’t your husband jealous of work?

- My first husband (Alexander Abdulov - Ed.) was very jealous of me, although he did not always behave in an exemplary manner. We agreed with our second husband that there is no jealousy in our family. Well, sometimes he misses me...

But you still come home, and on this free day you can make up for everything! It is better to live a full life and grab onto everything that is interesting.

Elena Proklova: “I live in harmony”

Main role: Larisa Ivanovna from "Mimino".

What today: art director of the Hermitage, was a member of the working group of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation. TV presenter. Starring in TV series.

About personal: I have been married to businessman Andrey for 19 years. She gave birth to a daughter from him. In my youth I had my first fleeting marriage, in which I gave birth to a daughter.

The second attempt at marriage was also unsuccessful. Proklova’s twin sons died immediately after birth, and grief separated the spouses. “Meeting Andrey changed everything in my life... I need a partnership. And I have it,” says the actress.

Natalya Andreichenko - Mary Poppins in the film "Mary Poppins, Goodbye!", participates in charity, goes to film festivals. Her first husband is composer Maxim Dunaevsky, her second is actor Maximilian Schell, from whom she is divorced today. There are two children.

Natalya Andreichenko: “You can’t fool yourself”

Main role: Mary Poppins in the film "Mary Poppins, Goodbye!"

Participates in charity work and goes to film festivals. Her first husband is composer Maxim Dunaevsky, her second is actor Maximilian Schell, from whom she is divorced today. There are two children.

Andreichenko in real life never strived to resemble the ideal woman:

- You can deceive everyone around you - both children and colleagues. But sooner or later you will still become yourself. And here lies are unacceptable. You can't fool yourself. I already went through something similar in the USA, when they tried to convince me that I needed to change - speak without an accent, play American roles. But then I will become different! Not an American - Broken Natasha. And suddenly it dawned on me that I shouldn’t do this. I am Natasha, Russian. If you like it, it’s good, if you don’t like it, sorry. I decided that I would stay with myself.

Natalya Varley

Main role: Nina in the film "Prisoner of the Caucasus"

In recent years, Natalya Varley left work in cinema - her last film in 2006 was “Wolfhound from the Family of Gray Dogs.”

Today he plays in an enterprise and goes on tour. Single for the last six years. The first husband was the actor Burlyaev. Natalia was courted by the son of the Belgian Defense Minister, Lucien Harmegins. But she chose someone else - the son of Vyacheslav Tikhonov and Nonna Mordyukova (from this marriage she gave birth to her eldest son). The name of the father of the second child is hidden.

For some time she worked at the OK Theater. Three CDs with her songs and two collections of poems were released. She was involved in dubbing and scoring foreign films and television series. She hosted the program “Household Troubles” on the RTR TV channel.

In the spring of 2009, in a duet with Nikolai Gnatyuk, she took part in the television project “Two Stars”.

Elina Bystritskaya: “You shouldn’t grieve over a man”

Main role: Aksinya in "Quiet Don" by Gerasimov.

What she's doing today: playing at the Maly Theater. Engaged in social work.

Personal life: after 27 years of marriage, she divorced and has been living alone since the late 90s. Have no children.

What did the appearance give?

Alas, beauty is not always a guarantee of success in your profession and personal life. For example, in her youth, Elina Bystritskaya was proud of her fragile figure. But it was her slimness that became an obstacle to her approval for the role of Aksinya. The actress had to gain as much as 15 kg.

In life, her mesmerizing beauty created many problems for her. For example, she was expelled from the Komsomol... for refusing to dance with a young man. Bystritskaya said that “he smells like a village.” Later, without reciprocating the feelings of the director of the Vilnius Theater, she was forced to leave the troupe.

When she reprimanded the government official who was in love with her, she found herself banned from traveling for a long time. Bystritskaya always had a lot of fans, but she only got married in the late 60s to an employee of the translation department of the Ministry of Foreign Trade. After 27 years of married life, she decided to divorce after learning about her husband’s infidelity, and has been alone ever since.

“I realized that divorce began to brew when Nikolai Ivanovich began to actively interfere with my work. I couldn’t allow myself to be controlled... He stopped being interested in everything except the fact that he was the husband of “that same Bystritskaya,” the actress recalled.

- Elina Avraamovna, would you like to arrange your personal life today? - I asked the actress.

- I have male friends with whom I communicate. But I don’t want to have a man in my house. This happens: a man has disappeared from life, and often a woman begins to think that she needs to find happiness rather. Some other guy, or what?

There is no point in grieving over a lost man. This means that your skill, your work, your actions are not for him... You have to work hard to distract yourself after a divorce. We must realize what is given by nature and God.

The main thing for me is to be in demand. I'm always in a fight. My fate is not easy, but it has been successful and will continue to be successful. I also have strength and desire! My life motto: don’t change yourself.

Margarita Terekhova: “Happiness is in children”

Main role: Milady in the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers."

What she’s doing today: staging plays at her native Mayakovsky Theater.
Personal life: single for the last 20 years. Two children.

What did the appearance give?

Beauty helped her become one of the favorite actresses of the cult director Andrei Tarkovsky - when he accidentally saw Terekhova for the first time, he exclaimed: “What beautiful hair you have, how beautiful you are!” And he invited her to his film “Mirror”.

But my personal life did not work out. Men appeared in her life and quickly disappeared. “Men had only one use - they gave children,” Terekhova once said.

She gave birth to her eldest daughter Anna from the Bulgarian actor Savva Khishimov, after which she broke up with him. She gave her son, whom she gave birth to without a husband, the surname Turaev and said that his father was a certain wealthy Tajik Turaev.

Journalists found director Georgy Gavrilov, who identified himself as the true father of the actress’s son. As a result, the son took the surname Terekhov, and when questioned by journalists, the actress mysteriously replies that this is their family secret, the main thing is that the son knows who his mother is!

"Be happy! Have children, this is the meaning of a woman’s life! And men come and go - God bless them,” says Terekhova.

Natalya Kustinskaya: “Being in love gives me strength”

Main role: Natasha in the film "Three Plus Two".

What's happening today: he doesn't act in films, he's retired.
Personal life: not married.

What did the appearance give?

Kustinskaya always drove men crazy and lived in a seething passion. In her youth, she was courted by actor Nikolai Gritsenko and director Roshal. Student director Yuri Chulyukin, having fallen in love with the blonde, tried to seduce her with an invitation to the role.

“On the third day of dating, Chulyukin asked me to marry,” said Kustinskaya

- In general, all my husbands proposed to me on the third day of dating! But I never received the role from Chulyukin. In the comedy “Girls” I wanted to play the cook Tosya. But the artistic council decided that my appearance was too impressive for the role of a cook.

On the set of “Three Plus Two,” Kustinskaya’s budding romance with her partner Evgeny Zharikov was “put out” by the actor’s wife, who arrived on time for the shoot. The author of the film's script, Sergei Mikhalkov, also had his sights set on Kustinskaya, came to her for filming for four days and immediately showed up in her room. But the actress refused the master, who left with the words: “If you change your mind, call.”

- Beauty is both happiness and a challenge. Men betrayed me,” says Kustinskaya. - After my first husband’s betrayal, I immediately filed for divorce. The state of being in love gave me the strength to live. Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vladimir Naumov, Muslim Magomaev, Alexey Batalov looked after me. But I married Oleg, a Vneshtorg employee.

Much has been written about how Kustinskaya stole her cosmonaut husband Egorov from her friend Fateeva.

“Again, already on the third day of our acquaintance, Egorov proposed marriage to me,” Kustinskaya emphasizes. - But I was then married to Oleg, who, having learned about my affair, tried to poison himself, but the doctors left him.

However, the marriage of Natalia and Oleg broke up. Kustinskaya married an astronaut, whose first betrayal put an end to their marriage.

“I have a difficult fate,” says Kustinskaya. - I buried first my grandson, then my son. Egorov's ex-husband died. I thought I would go crazy from the pain. But I managed and found the strength to live on.

And although the years have taken their toll, I feel attractive. Even today I have a man who gives me strength to live.

Svetlana Svetlichnaya: I never knew how to shoot with my eyes...

Main role: Anna Sergeevna in the comedy "The Diamond Arm"

What's happening today: Starring in documentaries and photo shoots for glossy magazines. Single for more than 10 years.

- You were always surrounded by beautiful men. Is there any secret to attracting the attention of the opposite sex?

- I love handsome men. I loved and will love. But this does not mean at all that if I see a handsome man, I will immediately hang myself around his neck. My eye can see beauty. But in my entire life I have never used feminine tricks to get a man to pay attention to me. I never knew how to shoot with my eyes.

She was the first Soviet actress to be naked on screen. Shyly covering her chest with her hand, Svetlana Svetlichnaya shouted: “It’s not my fault!”, and all the men believed her unconditionally.

Only thanks to her, or rather, her heroine, the fashion for black eyeliner and Chanel perfume appeared. Today Svetlana Svetlichnaya goes out together with the young stylist Ruslan Tatyanin. According to her, it was he who helped her believe in herself again.

- Svetlana Afanasyevna, you are called the first Soviet sex symbol. Are you flattered by this title?

- I treat him calmly. Well, someone wanted to call me that, and for God’s sake. Previously, they didn’t even know such a word - “sex symbol”. Today, alas, everyone has become like that.

Sex symbol is such a shabby concept! It makes me neither hot nor cold. It was much more pleasant to hear that I have a soul without wrinkles. This is something I am proud of and will continue to be proud of for the rest of my days. And all because I’m not evil, I forgive everyone.

I forgave my offenders long ago from the bottom of my heart. I generally can’t hold a grudge against someone for a long time. I always feel sorry for everyone. One day, in the Epiphany frosts, I went to church to get some holy water. An elderly man was sitting there, he was shaking all over from the cold. I got some water, and on the way home I thought that I should at least bring this poor guy some hot tea. And I did it!

I am still proud of my action. When he saw me, he cried and said: “I remember you by your hat.” The poor guy couldn’t believe it for a long time, he kept asking: “Is it you who came back because of me?”

Personal life was not happy. In 1995, she buried her famous husband, Vladimir Ivashov. She experienced lack of money and severe depression.

Two sons and actor friends helped her cope with difficulties. Unfortunately, last year the actress buried one of her sons. Despite all the hardships of life, he does not lose heart

Evgenia Simonova – “I sacrificed little for the sake of work”

Main role: princess in the film "An Ordinary Miracle"

What today:

He acts in films and plays at the Mayakovsky Theater. She admits: she found female happiness with her second husband, director Andrei Eshpai. There is a daughter from her first marriage with Kaidanovsky, and a grandson.

“Well, what should I tell you about this? I’m not a vamp. I’ve never been chosen as a sex symbol, not even at our entrance, not to mention on other scales,” this is how Evgenia Simonova once answered a question about the fact that the public wants to know the secrets of her personal life.

In fact, you don’t want to find out any “secrets,” but there are plenty of “vamps” in Russian cinema, and almost every representative of this class, voluntarily or involuntarily, evokes associations with Teffi’s famous story “The Demonic Woman.”

But who is truly feminine is Simonova’s heroine from Mark Zakharov’s legendary film “An Ordinary Miracle.”

Evgenia Simonova, who was born on June 1, 1955 in Leningrad, unlike many of her fellow actors, is calm about her age.

“Why hide it, if the pictures from which, I hope, viewers remember me, came out more than thirty years ago. So, everyone can guess how old I am,” says Evgenia Simonova. “As for appearance... I’ve never I was incredibly good, so I’m not really worried about the wrinkles that appear.”

Evgenia Simonova became famous throughout the country after Georgy Danelia’s film “Afonya” (1975) was released. Nurse Katya, who sincerely fell in love with the unlucky mechanic Borshchov, became for many a symbol of a real woman who, for all her “quietness,” has great inner strength.

The success of the film was enormous. Fans literally bombarded Evgenia Pavlovna with letters. They admired her, declared their love, offered her hand and heart.

It would seem that Evgenia Simonova should have been dizzy from the all-Union glory that had fallen on her. Not so.

“I never had any illusions about myself,” says the actress. “Now I’m reviewing my old films, it seems that I didn’t act so badly. But then it seemed to me that I did everything badly, I was worried, I cried. At which my mother screamed : “Yes, you need to go to a psychiatrist!” Apparently, all these experiences associated with low self-esteem became a good vaccination against “star fever.”

Evgenia Simonova does not like big words. You won’t hear from her: “I gave up everything for the sake of my profession!” On the contrary, she states: “To be honest, I haven’t sacrificed much for my work.

The most important thing is that she gave birth to and raised two daughters (the eldest daughter, Zoya, is from Simonova’s first husband, actor and director Alexander Kaidanovsky). And for me this has always come first."

Galina Belyaeva: All my children are from loved ones...

Main role: Olenka in the film “My Affectionate and Gentle Beast”

What today:

He plays in an enterprise and does yoga to maintain his figure.

She has been happily married to businessman Sergei for 15 years, who is five years younger than her. From him she gave birth to a daughter, Anna. (There is a son from his first marriage with director Loteanu and a son from his second, civil, marriage with a doctor.)

It’s rare that an actress dares to have a maximum of two children. Three is a feat that only Demi Moore is capable of in the presence of Bruce Willis.

So, our Russian actress Galina Belyaeva, who played the main roles in the films “My Affectionate and Tender Beast,” “Ah, Vaudeville, Vaudeville...”, “Anna Pavlova,” imagine, she has four children! For this alone one can give a State Prize.

- Usually actresses sacrifice their personal lives in favor of their careers...

- When I want a child, I have one. I don’t even think about a profession. Children are treasures. The more there are, the more you want.

- But it is important that they are from a loved one.

- Certainly. Children should only come from loved ones.
Oh, those “roe deer” eyes...

Emil Loteanu was looking for an actress for the role of Olenka Skvortsova in the film “My Affectionate and Gentle Beast”:

- I need a Russian type of girl. Something between Savelyeva and Samoilova.

Assistants found a 15-year-old dancer at the Voronezh Choreographic School. Loteanu saw her “roe deer” eyes in a black and white photo... and immediately called the girl to Moscow.

Galya Belyaeva's screen tests were terrible. Next to Oleg Yankovsky in front of the camera, she became terribly shy. But the artistic council still approved it.

After the film was released, Belyaeva woke up famous. Olenka Skvortsova loved her on the screen as if it all happened for real.

“When I was fifteen, I had never had a man with whom I would kiss so openly,” the actress recalls.

In fact, she was in love then. Not Oleg Yankovsky, but director Emil Loteanu.

It was a beautiful novel. Soon they got married. Galya moved into his one-room Moscow apartment, where their son was born. He was named after his father - Emil.

- Galina, why did you break up with Loteanu?

- When you get married for the first time, you think it’s forever. Loteanu is my first man. I met an interesting person and fell in love. For me, divorce was a real tragedy. Moreover, they have a common child... And Emil Vladimirovich did not want to get a divorce. Rather, I lacked worldly wisdom.

- How do you manage with so many children?

“Sometimes I’m in despair that I don’t know how to raise them.” They all have character.

-Have you ever wanted to change anything in your life?

- No. In the play “The Islander,” one heroine says: “I’ve been married three times. But I don't regret anything. You have to live to survive everything.” If I didn't have a past life, I wouldn't have a present one. I really value what I have. And I don’t wish anything for myself anymore.

Anastasia Vertinskaya: Laziness is the companion of talented people

What today:

Anastasia Vertinskaya has not acted in films or played in the theater for several years. The actress unexpectedly began cooking in the restaurants of her son, Stepan Mikhalkov. He attends international restaurant business forums and learns from experience.

By the way, she stopped acting when the audience did not see the film “The Master and Margarita” with her in the title role. The actress starred naked in this film, was ill after filming, and then left cinema altogether.

- In recent years, actress Vertinskaya has given the public a few gifts - “Imago”, “The Bremen Town Musicians”, “Mirage, or The Road of the Russian Pierrot”. But the audience's interest in you does not disappear...

- I don’t want to work in the theater as a structure anymore, this stage has been passed. It is interesting to perform enterprise performances if there is a worthy play. But, as a rule, for enterprises they take Western plays, written about twenty years ago: people not from our lives discuss their everyday life. This is not what you want to play. I have no creative plans. I would be glad to name it, but there’s nothing.

- I will never play a killer’s mother or anything like that. Sitting in the frame as a grandmother and knitting is not interesting to me. I was whimsical in choosing roles, and remained so. But I don't see any drama in this. I rather see the drama in the fact that Marina Neyolova and Lena Koreneva - actresses of this level - are not filming.

In 1966, Vertinskaya married Nikita Sergeevich Mikhalkov, later an outstanding actor and film director. In the same year, their son Stepan was born. Their marriage lasted less than four years. Subsequently, Anastasia married a second time - to the singer Alexander Gradsky. But this marriage suffered the same fate. Single since 1980.

- I think the Lord has completely deprived me of this joy - to be happy in marriage. In fact, there are women born for marriage. They can't live without it. I love silence, solitude... If I'm not married, it doesn't mean anything. Loneliness is the highest spiritual state."

- Do you devote a lot of time to the restaurant business?

- My son Stepan takes care of the interior and everything else. I am primarily passionate about the art of cuisine. Especially Russian cuisine, which I remember from my family and the Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky family. Natalya Petrovna Konchalovskaya was a brilliant cook. I study all the time, it's very interesting to me.

- Having crossed the age limit, when a lot has been learned and passed, you began to rush to live? Or, on the contrary, do you exist more measuredly?

- Oddly enough, my activity has increased. When I was young, sleep meant a lot to me. In general, I believe that the companion of talented people is laziness. Since I used to work a lot, for me any day of doing nothing was a colossal happiness. And now I hate these days, so I keep myself busy from morning to evening.

I would like to see my family at the table. So that the grandchildren can run around. This is the result of life, when those who remain come to you. Over time the circle changes.

Friends leave, loved ones too. Life is very filtered by the environment, although I cannot say that there are few people around me. And I really want to see those who surround me at my birthday, so that they all feel comfortable and happy.