The tragic story of Frosya Burlakova: how the famous actress had to pay for the fame and popular love

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

For Soviet actress Ekaterina Savinova role in the film "Come back tomorrow" became so successful, and the created image - so well-aimed hitting the target that it was called nothing else than Frosya Burlakova … After the resounding success of the film, which was watched by 15.4 million people in a year, everyone was waiting for the new works of the talented actress. However, she disappeared from the screens for many years. Few people knew that her fate was one of the most tragic in the world of cinema. On April 25, 1970, actress Yekaterina Savinova threw herself under a train.

In the image of Frosya Burlakova there was a lot that was close and understandable for the actress herself. She also came to Moscow from the provinces, tried to enter VGIK, but was refused with the wording "You are not for the cinema." The next attempt was successful, and Ekaterina Savinova almost simultaneously began her studies and film career. At the entrance exams at VGIK, she read Anna Karenina's monologue before her death, which became a landmark moment for her.

At 22, Savinova was incredibly lucky - Ivan Pyriev, the head of Mosfilm, took the student to the Kuban Cossacks. But this luck turned into a real tragedy for the girl. The director showed an unequivocal interest in her, and having received a refusal, he took cruel revenge: Katya was included in the "black list" of actresses who were not filmed anywhere. For 13 years, she was offered only small cameo roles.

Savinova had a powerful unique voice, just like her Frosya Burlakova. Like her screen heroine, she decided to study singing and entered the Music Institute. Gnesins. She was even invited to the Bolshoi Theater, but she refused, as she dreamed only of cinema.

The long-awaited success came only at the age of 34, when her husband, film director Yevgeny Tashkov, took her in the lead role in the lyric comedy Come Tomorrow (1962). Then the actress received the prize for the best female role at the All-Union Film Festival and the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. The following year, she played the cook Matryona in The Marriage of Balzaminov. It would seem that the career took off, but then the irreparable happened.

Since 1961, the actress began to show symptoms of an incomprehensible disease that doctors could not diagnose for a long time. Physical distress was accompanied by bouts of mental illness. As it turned out, the cause was brucellosis - a zoo infection transmitted to humans from animals, mainly cows, and affecting the entire body. Savinova was ruined by her addiction to fresh cow's milk. The infection struck the brain and central nervous system, resulting in sluggish schizophrenia.

At the moments when the illness receded for a while, Savinova understood what was happening to her, and was very worried that everyone considered her crazy. In 1970, having deceived a nurse, she went to her sister in Novosibirsk, and there she threw herself under a train. Savinova was aware of this decision, as evidenced by her suicide note: “Forgive me. Especially Andrey. My dear boy. If you knew what the future holds for me, you would forgive me. Do not worry. Do not Cry . She was only 43 years old.

No less trials fell to the lot of another Soviet actress - Broken Destiny: The Tragedy of Valentina Serova