Why the star of the film "Two Captains" ballerina Olga Zabotkina did not find happiness with Batalov and others

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

Soviet ballerina and actress Olga Zabotkina was one of the first beauties of the theater stage and cinema. She was a star of the Mariinsky Theater, and most viewers will remember her in the image of Katya Tatarinova from the movie "Two Captains". In her profession, she reached considerable heights, but in her personal life she was catastrophically unlucky. In her youth, one of the most beautiful and popular Soviet actors broke her heart, and then the famous TV presenter and parodist, for whom she left the ballet, brought her so many disappointments that it finally broke her …

Olga Zabotkina was born in Leningrad, 5 years before the start of the Great Patriotic War. Her father was an engineer, and her mother came from a noble estate - she was the daughter of the actual state councilor Mikhail von Levenshtern, and worked all her life as a tour guide in the Leningrad Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR. Olga's family went through a blockade, as a result of which the girl lost her father in 1942.

Ballet has been Olga's main hobby since childhood. True, admission to a children's boarding school for ballerinas was for her a salvation from hunger - there the students were fed, and in the difficult war and post-war years this was the only way out for the family. Her physical data - natural grace, high growth, grace - were noted by teachers, and in 1953 Zabotkina graduated from the Ballet School. A. Vaganova. After that she was accepted into the troupe of the Leningrad Theater. Kirov (now - the Mariinsky Theater), on the stage of which she performed for almost 25 years.

At the age of 19, Olga Zabotkina made her film debut, and her first role brought her all-Union fame. She played Katya Tatarinova in the film adaptation of V. Kaverin's novel "Two Captains". Her candidacy for the main role was approved by the writer himself - in his opinion, she was incredibly similar to his heroine both externally and in character: having survived the blockade and war, the girl possessed the same willpower and determination. This film was watched by 32 million viewers, and incredible popularity fell on the young debutante.

After this success, Olga Zabotkina began to receive new proposals from directors. She played the main female roles in the film-play Don Cesar de Bazan (Maritana) and in the musical comedy Cheryomushki (Lida Baburova), starred in the film Unfinished Story and the film-ballet The Sleeping Beauty. At the same time, she continued to solo in the theater, performing in the performances "Swan Lake", "Laurencia", "Khovanshchina", "Don Quixote", "Cinderella", "Stone Flower".

Once Alexei Batalov came to Leningrad to shoot the film "My Dear Man". At that time, he was already a movie star, after starring in the films Big Family, The Rumyantsev Case, Mother and The Cranes Are Flying. Once, in a common company, he met Olga Zabotkina, who was then also at the peak of popularity after the premiere of "Two Captains". They began an affair, rumors circulated in the acting environment about the upcoming wedding. Olga was waiting for the offer, but Batalov, realizing that they were expecting serious steps from him, preferred to leave without explanation - he just suddenly disappeared. Only years later, the actor explained what was then guided by making such a decision.

Olga's career in the theater was then taking off, and if she married Batalov, she would have to move to Moscow and start all over again. The actor feared that he would ruin her career and ruin her life. In addition, he had just divorced his first wife, Irina Rotova, and was not ready to create a new family. He was also stopped by his disorder in everyday life - despite the status of a star, he had neither his own home nor the means to support his family. Having weighed all the pros and cons, Batalov decided to leave.

Years later, he confessed: ""

In 1965, the actress and ballerina got married. Bassoon musician Sergei Krasavin became her chosen one. This marriage lasted only 5 years and brought new disappointments. The actress never spoke about the reasons for the separation, but after the divorce she remained alone for a long time and did not want to build a new relationship.

At the age of 44, Olga met the famous pop artist, satirist, parody master Alexander Ivanov. They were soon married. For the sake of her husband, Zabotkina left the theater stage and devoted herself entirely to caring for her husband, becoming his personal secretary: she selected costumes for him, edited feuilletons, and accompanied him on tour. Together they moved to Moscow, where Ivanov began to conduct a television show "Around the laugh".

Ivanov's colleague Arkady Arkanov said: "".

At first, Ivanov's career was very successful, and Olga was proud of her husband. But after the show was closed in 1991 and his fame faded away, the family fell on hard times. Ivanov often abused alcohol before, and during this period he began to drink soundly. No matter how hard his wife tried to fight it, all her efforts were in vain.

One of the acquaintances of the parodist from the Writers' Union said: "".

In 1996, Alexander Ivanov passed away - he had a massive heart attack against the background of alcohol intoxication. Olga Zabotkina survived him for 5 years. In recent years, she was seriously ill - she was diagnosed with cancer. The actress practically did not go out on the street, did not communicate with anyone, answering friends on the phone: “I don’t want you to see me like that…”. On December 21, 2001, she was gone. She was only 65 years old. One of the first beauties of the theater stage and cinema was never able to find personal happiness and left all alone …

One of the friends of the actress, Eugene Fort, wrote about her: "".

Her life and the life of her husband probably could have turned out completely differently, if he had found the strength in himself to overcome his addiction: The dramatic fate of Alexander Ivanov.