5 famous couples who were separated by the "iron curtain"

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

They say that there are no boundaries, distances and nationalities for true love. But during the Soviet era, this statement was not relevant: even for simple communication with foreign citizens, one could fall out of favor with the authorities and go to the camps for a long time. What can we say about those who dared to build relationships with foreign guests. These romantic stories are just about how love could not overcome the Iron Curtain.

Alexandra Zavyalova and Othello Ceresolli

Alexandra Zavyalova was considered one of the most beautiful and mysterious actresses in Soviet cinema. Many will remember her for her role as Pistimeia in Shadows Disappear at Noon. Although at the time of filming she was already 35 years old, and before that she managed to star in a dozen films. But "Shadows …" became the most notable work after a long break, and after them oblivion fell again - the actress simply did not want to shoot. And Alexandra paid for an affair with an American, which cost her her career and broke her life.

In 1964, Zavyalova met on the plane with the admiral of the US Navy, Othello Ceziolli. She felt bad, and the man offered his help. And so began a relationship that lasted only two weeks. The American fell in love with an unusual girl and even made a marriage proposal, although at that time both were not free.

Alexandra understood what an affair with a foreigner threatened her, so she tried to hide the relationship. However, the ubiquitous KGB had long been tracking the lovers, and soon officers in civilian clothes burst into Cezsolli's hotel room, declared him persona non grata, and expelled him from the country.

For the actress, they set up surveillance, and the proposals for filming in a strange way stopped coming. They remembered her only a few years later, having invited her to "Shadows disappear at noon." But after the success of the series, Alexandra was again forgotten.

Deep depression led the artist to a psychiatric hospital. Her daughter Tanya was taken by her father, and his son Petya was sent to an orphanage. Zavyalova unsuccessfully tried to return the child, and a year later she was again in the hospital with him.

They remembered about Alexander only 20 years later - in 1992 she starred in the film "White Clothes". This was her last role. And in 2016, she was stabbed to death by her own son Peter, who suffers from alcoholism.

Galina Loginova and Bogdan Jovovich

Another star of the TV series "Shadows disappear at noon" also paid with her career for forbidden love. Although the performer of the role of Olga Voronova could not complain about the lack of work. The movie Much Ado About Nothing made her a star. But then there were 8 more pictures in which the actress was not particularly noticeable.

The reason for her disfavor was that Loginova began to meet with the Serbian doctor Bogdan Jovovich, and she was even summoned to the KGB to conduct “preventive conversations”. But Galina was not frightened, and soon the lovers got married. Later they had a daughter, Mila.

But the happiness did not last long: Bogdan had to leave the country, and his wife was completely out of work. Since Jovovich was forbidden to visit the USSR, Loginova herself came to him and once decided to stay.

The family soon moved to America. But the man started having problems with a doctor's license, and they did not want to see his spouse in the movies. Then Galina got a job as a maid, and Bogdan was imprisoned for 7 years for financial fraud. However, the marriage soon broke up, and Loginova devoted all her strength to making her daughter a star. And she succeeded: Mila Jovovich is one of the most famous Hollywood actresses.

Alexander Godunov and Lyudmila Vlasova

When the dancer Alexander Godunov met the soloist of the Bolshoi Theater Lyudmila Vlasova, she was still married. But the young man fell in love so much that for several years he sought the favor of the chosen one, and in the end she gave up. And soon the lovers decided to tie the knot.

Meanwhile, Godunov's career went uphill, and the couple even starred together in the film "June 31". Already in 1979, the theater troupe went on tour to America with the ballet Romeo and Juliet. But immediately after the first speech, Alexander did not return to the hotel, and the next day Lyudmila was summoned to the Soviet consul. There she learned that her husband had asked for political asylum in the United States, and she was offered to choose on her own whether to return to her homeland or stay with her husband. But Vlasova, thinking about her elderly mother, decided to fly back to the USSR, but when the plane with the ballerina was about to take off, FSB officers arrived at the airport. They wanted to make sure that Lyudmila was not being held back by force. But she refused to negotiate with them. As a result, the flight was allowed only after 3 days, when the leaders of both countries intervened in the matter.

Two years later, the Moscow court divorced the spouses. Vlasova remarried, also worked at the Bolshoi Theater, but did not receive state awards and titles. After completing her career, she worked as a choreographer for gymnasts and figure skaters. Alexander, while remaining in the United States, worked at the American Ballet Theater, then gathered his troupe. Then he decided to become an actor and even starred in several films, the most famous of which is Die Hard. Godunov had been dating actress Jacqueline Bisset for seven years, but it never came to a wedding. At the same time, the man tried to contact Lyudmila, but to no avail. He died at the age of 45 in 1995.

Zoya Fedorova and Jackson Tate

The popular Soviet actress walked around the edge more than once and could end up in camps. At first, they tried to accuse her of helping a foreign spy, then they wanted to imprison her for being the daughter of an "enemy of the people." However, her popularity saved her, but they could no longer forgive her love with a foreigner.

Fortune for the time being was supportive of the actress: more than 20 works in films, two Stalin Prizes, rich fans. It was rumored that Lavrenty Beria himself laid eyes on her. But the girl did not accept the courtship of the almighty people's commissar. And at the end of the war, she began to meet with a military man from the United States, Jackson Tate. However, unexpectedly, the man was expelled from the USSR, without even allowing him to say goodbye to his beloved - she was on tour at that time. He also did not know that Fedorova was expecting a child from him. And only three years later, Tate received an anonymous letter stating that Zoe got married and became a mother.

And the actress, in order to hide the fact that she was pregnant from a foreigner, agreed to become the wife of the composer Alexander Ryazanov. But she was still accused of espionage and in 1946 she was sentenced to 25 years in the camps. At the same time, those close to Fedorova also suffered: they were all exiled, and daughter Vika was taken by her sister, who went to serve her "sentence" in Kazakhstan.

But after Stalin's death, the actress was rehabilitated. She returned to the movies, reunited with her daughter, and wrote several letters to her American lover. He answered her already in the 70s. It turned out that Tate already had his own family, but he still invited Zoya and her daughter to visit him.

Once in America, Vika decided to stay there, and Fedorova began to collect documents in order to also emigrate to the United States. However, her plans were not destined to come true: in 1981, the body of the actress with a bullet in the back of the head was found in her apartment. The killers could not be found.