Why the Soviet movie star, whose portrait was painted by Picasso, was in oblivion: Tatyana Samoilova

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

Tatyana Samoilova is the only one of all Russian actresses whose palm is printed on the Cannes Croisette. It was in her honor that the avenue of roses was named in Paris; Picasso himself painted a beautiful portrait of Tatyana. She alone won the prize for Best Actress in Cannes. The star, shining in the sky of world cinema, was born on May 4, 1934 and went on his own birthday after 80 years …

War childhood

Tatiana was born in Leningrad, dad Evgeny Samoilov was a famous actor. While still a schoolgirl, little Tanya, sitting backstage at rehearsals in the theater with her father, watched what was happening as bewitched. With delight, she looked at him and in the movies. On May 9, 1945, on the long-awaited Victory Day, my daughter told her dad about her dream of acting in a movie:. At that time, Tanya was only 11 years old. And the girl's dream was destined to come true.

The first love

Having entered the Shchukin school, she met within its walls with her first love, Vasily Lanov. They were peers and classmates. Her film debut was the film "Mexican". The shooting took place in Odessa, in the same place Lanovoy and Samoilova decided to get married - without a triumph they went to the registry office and signed.

The first role in the cinema cost Tatyana her studies in the theater. It was forbidden to act in films, and the rector of the Shchukin school expelled Tatyana Samoilova. But Tanya's exotic appearance was noticed by Kalatozov's assistant, who showed her to the director. So Tatyana Samoilova was approved for the main role of the film, with which she quickly burst into the world of cinema, forever leaving her name and prints of her palms in it on the embankment in Cannes.

Cranes are Flying

After Khrushchev called Veronica a woman of easy virtue at the viewing of the picture, the movie could lie on the shelf. However, the tape went abroad straight to the Cannes Film Festival. The film, which the whole world fell in love with, in the USSR began to scold all the newspapers. Most of the criticism was caused by the main character - open and frank. Samoilova walked barefoot in the frame, with her hair loose.

Critics were outraged that the authors of the picture were on the side of the heroine, who did not wait for her beloved from the front, and even got married without loving. "How can you justify it!" - the critics were indignant. However, the ordinary viewer liked the film very much. The story of a girl who made a mistake, but still continues to love, turned out to be close to many. The heroine lived at the behest of her heart, thinking little about what people would say. Wasn't Tatyana Samoilova herself like that?

We have no stars

At the premiere in Cannes, Tatiana and cameraman Urusevsky sat huddled in their chairs: “Why is everyone silent? Didn't they understand us? Almost half of the film has passed, and there is complete silence in the hall. And Tanya looked around. She saw everyone crying. The audience was silent, because tears choked them. At the end of the film, everyone cried, dropping their embarrassment, and then gave a standing ovation.

Tatiana Samoilova had to compete with Sophia Loren, who presented the movie "Love under the Elms". Marcello Mastroianni later said, either jokingly or seriously, that Sophia Loren had done many operations. But one of them, thanks to Tatiana Samoilova - in order to have the same eyes. The jury prize "The most modest and charming actress" of the XI Cannes Film Festival in 1957 went to Samoilova. Orange and tangerine trees were planted in her honor in the garden of the royal palace.

In France, they asked her how she felt about becoming the first Soviet star. Tatiana replied:. She was not just loved, but adored. All newspapers and magazines were full of photos of Samoilova, headlines about her. There were queues in theaters - everyone wanted to see her.

Life after triumph

Returning to the USSR sobered Tatyana. In Moscow, Goskino began to be dominated by directors and producers from all over the world - everyone wanted to see a girl with slanting eyes in the lead roles. Officials sent refusals abroad, one more absurd than the other. They replied that Samoilova did not have a higher education, that she was busy, or was ill and could not come "due to her grave condition."

With Lanov, they also drifted away from each other. And once Tatyana said herself: “Let's part …” Even the shooting in the joint film “Anna Karenina”, in which Vasily Lanovoy played Vronsky, and Samoilova played the main role, did not return warm relations. The former spouses remained in the status of colleagues, and no more.

The final

Poverty, hospitals, loneliness - this is how the actress lived in recent years, whose name is inscribed in all the film encyclopedias of the world. Colleagues said about her:.

Samoilova was again invited to Cannes for the 2008 film festival. Tatyana Evgenievna was provided with full maintenance, but the round trip had to be paid for independently. The cherished ticket to Paris was beyond the means of the people's artist. She could not buy it for herself, receiving a beggarly pension. And not a single person helped Tatyana Samoilova to get to the cinema celebration again …