Why the star of the movie "The Long Road in the Dunes" did not like to talk about her family life: Velta Line

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

They were both stars of Latvian cinema, Gunars Tsilinsky and Velta Line. He became a star of the all-Union scale after the release of the film "Strong in Spirit", where he played the scout Nikolai Kuznetsov, she became famous thanks to the film "Long Road in the Dunes". But they considered the theater to be the main business in their lives. Gunars Tsilinsky and Velta Line gave their whole lives to the Latvian National Theater, gave each other 35 years of happiness and raised a wonderful son. Why did Velta Line not like to talk about her family life even after her husband's death?

Velta Line

She was born in August 1923 in Riga and was the third child in the family of Martin Lina, a worker and Anna Lina, a housewife. Every summer Velta spent in the village, where from early childhood she learned to bring a small income to the family, grazing cows from different owners. Even then, she dreamed of how to grow up and become a famous actress. She carefully cut out photographs of actresses from magazines, collecting them by dates in a special album.

She first came to the theater at the age of 13, having received unforgettable impressions and further strengthened her desire to become an actress. At the age of 14, she transferred to the gymnasium, which was located next to the National Theater, and began to participate in school performances.

In October 1942 she entered the Riga National Theater Studio, from which she graduated in 1946. The year before that she was accepted into the troupe of the State Drama Theater of the Latvian SSR named after. A. Upita (today - the Latvian National Theater). She served in this theater all her life and here she met the person who became her destiny.

Gunar Tsilinsky

He was born in May 1931. And, it seems, as a child, he did not even allow himself to become an actor. His father, Alfred Tsilinsky, was the owner of the store, but he left the family when Gunar was still young. During the Second World War, the father of the future actor disappeared altogether.

After graduating from school, Gunar Tsilinsky entered the timber industry technical school, at the same time he became interested in amateur performances and began to go on stage in amateur performances. True, then it did not develop into a serious hobby. But while working in the Baldonsky timber industry enterprise, Gunar Tsilinsky often attended performances of the Academic Drama Theater and the J. Rainis Art Theater.

Then Tsilinsky thought about becoming a professional actor. After passing the exams for the theater faculty of the Latvian Conservatory, the members of the selection committee argued for a long time, since during the creative tests the young man was desperately shy and constrained. And yet he was credited.

Studying was not easy for him, and in his second year he almost ended up on the list of expelled. He had to mobilize all his strength and prove, first of all, to himself: he has all the data in order to become an actor. In 1955 he was admitted to the troupe of the State Drama Theater of the Latvian SSR named. A. Upita, where he met Velta Line.

35 years of happiness

Gunar Tsilinsky was unusually handsome. Velta Lina was eight years older, but she once said in an interview that many of her peers were taken by the war, and therefore she drew attention to the young handsome man. However, the relationship between them did not arise immediately. At first, the actors looked closely at each other.

They had many common interests: both loved travel, adored water and mountains. When a romance broke out between Gunar and Velta, they kept it secret for a long time. The actors visited the Carpathians together, were on tour in Moscow, and then in the Caucasus. And then Gunar Tsilinsky made an offer to Velta Lina. In the fall of 1957, they became husband and wife.

Velta dreamed of a long white dress and a church wedding, but the actress was already very popular at that time and the wedding could ruin her entire career, as well as the career of her future husband. Therefore, the actors signed at the registry office, then celebrated this event in the circle of relatives.

Gunar Tsilinsky and Velta Line lived very happily. They did not even allow the thought of jealousy, giving each other complete freedom. Velta reasoned very sensibly: if Gunar wants to leave, then she will not hold him. But the actor, despite all his popularity and the presence of many fans, never even allowed to wash about treason.

A year after the wedding, the son of actors Aigars was born. Gunar Tsilinsky was happy and brought to his wife a huge bouquet of red roses to the maternity hospital, to which tiny red boots were tied. Later, the actress will put them on a teddy bear, also given to her by her husband. Gunar Tsilinsky understood: his wife sacrificed a lot in order to give him a son.

But Velta Lina herself did not regret at all that she had to interrupt her career for a while. She could not imagine life "only for herself", and later, many years later, she only regretted that she had not given birth to her second child.

Gunar Tsilinsky was a very closed person in life. He never spoke about his personal life and preferred to discuss all family problems behind closed bedroom doors. Velta Line's wife fully supported this, so their wedding photos never appeared in the press, and neither she nor her son Aigars shared the details of family relationships.

Once the actress admitted: Gunar did not like to talk about their family relationships, and she never spoke about personal things in memory of him. The actress herself often recalled how happy they were. Unfortunately, Gunar Tsilinsky was assigned too short a time in this world. He was only 61 years old when the actor suffered a heart attack while water skiing on the lake. On July 25, 1992, the actor died. They took him out of the water without any signs of life.

For a long time, the actress got used to the fact that her husband was no longer there, and he would not give her a bouquet of roses for her birthday, would not congratulate her on the New Year, would not say how happy he was to see her smile every day …

But this was not the only blow destined for Velta Lina. In 2007, her son Aigars Tsilinsky died suddenly, who followed in the footsteps of his parents and became an actor and director. The actress was left all alone. Later Velta Lina said that it was not so difficult to lose her husband as her son, and her heart stopped when Aigars was gone. Fortunately, Ilze's daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Margaret Mara, remained, who did not leave their attention to the actress until the last day of her life.

Velta Lina survived her husband by 20 years. She passed away on December 31, 2012.

Gunar Tsilinsky and Velta Line did not act in films very often, but their favorite film studio was, of course, Rizhskaya. Many good films were shot here, which viewers are happy to watch today. Unfortunately, nowadays television rarely indulges viewers with showing films of the Riga Film Studio, although there are real masterpieces among them.