Broken dreams of Elina Bystritskaya: Why one of the most beautiful actresses of Soviet cinema did not find personal happiness

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

Elina Bystritskaya is still considered one of the most beautiful actresses today, but she was often left without roles in theater and cinema. She has been married for 27 years, carefully hiding her personal life from outsiders. This gave rise to many rumors about her husband, which she herself did not comment on. Only many years after the divorce, Elina Bystritskaya slightly opened the veil of secrecy over her personal life and admitted why she could not find her female happiness.

First feelings

Elina Bystritskaya's life has never been easy. She survived the war, from the age of 13 she worked as a nurse in a mobile hospital, after the Victory she graduated from a medical college. Contrary to the will of her parents, the future actress, after studying for a year at the Pedagogical Institute, entered the Kiev Institute of Theatrical Art.

Even in the pedagogical institute, the freshman sympathized with the graduate student in love with her. However, the very first date was also the last. When the young man accompanied the actress to the gate of the house and was about to kiss her, the Anthem of the USSR suddenly burst out of the loudspeaker hanging nearby. The graduate student immediately stretched out at attention and froze, straightening his shoulders. The excessive ideological spirit of Elina's admirer disappointed.

And in the theater, the young beauty herself fell in love with the young actor of the Lesya Ukrainka Theater Kirill Lavrov. It was already going to marriage, the parents of Elina and Kirill met each other and planned to arrange a wedding in the summer of 1953, when the bride received her diploma. And in the spring, the young people parted.

Kirill Lavrov was leaving with the theater on tour, and Bystritskaya with a bouquet flew to the station to see her beloved. And I saw a gentle scene of the groom's farewell to actress Valentina Nikolaeva. She immediately informed the groom about the end of their relationship and left, proudly raising her head.

Moving away from the car, the actress sincerely believed: now Cyril will catch up with her and say that she understood everything wrong. But his beloved did not catch up with her, and later married Valentina and lived happily with her for many years.

Elina Bystritskaya experienced parting hard, but no one saw her tears or suffering. For many years she could not forgive Lavrov, only at a very mature age they were able to communicate normally.

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Secret husband

After graduation, the actress refused to be assigned to the Kherson theater because of the director's boorish behavior and left for Vilnius, where she worked for three years in the Russian drama theater. After moving to Moscow, she became an actress of the Pushkin Theater, and in 1958 she was accepted into the troupe of the Maly Theater. By that time, she had already become famous thanks to the filming of the film "Quiet Flows the Don" and was married.

For a long time no one knew who became the husband of the actress. The mystery gave rise to a lot of rumors. Elina Bystritskaya's husband was considered a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Foreign Trade or the right-hand man of Nikita Khrushchev. In fact, he served in the Ministry of Foreign Trade, but was the head of the translation department.

Shortly before filming in the film "Quiet Flows the Don" Elina Bystritskaya was introduced to Nikolai Ivanovich Kuzminsky by a friend of her future husband, who served in the magazine "Soviet Screen". The actress fell in love with the impressive handsome man literally at first sight. When he proposed to her 4 days after they met, she immediately agreed.

Elina Avraamovna's husband was a passionate theater-goer, and his two first spouses were also actresses: the first was a ballerina, the second was an actress of the Vakhtangov Theater. It seemed that Bystritskaya found her true happiness.

Nikolai Ivanovich had an impeccable sense of taste, thanks to which he brought his wife incredibly beautiful and stylish things from foreign business trips. But most importantly, he had a huge impact on the formation of the actress. They watched many performances and films together, visited exhibitions and museums, and then discussed what they saw, defended each of their points of view, talked about everything in the world and enjoyed the opportunity to be around.

Unjustified trust

Elina Bystritskaya realized how important a happy personal life is for her. She was saddened only by the fact that the doctors pronounced their own verdict on her: the actress would never have children. Affected by the war years, when in any weather she had to drag the wounded on her. Excessive physical exertion and hypothermia had a detrimental effect on the female health of the actress.

READ ALSO: Payment for fame and success: 5 famous Soviet actresses who did not know the joy of motherhood >>

Nikolai Kuzminsky did not pester his wife with jealousy, realizing that fans are part of the life of a famous actress. However, she herself never allowed herself even an innocent flirtation and rejected any attempts by men to look after her. At the same time, she was not interested in either the position or the social status of the fan. Often rejected boyfriends after taking revenge on the intractable beauty. One of the officials, who was refused by Elina Bystritskaya during a business trip abroad, made the actress restricted to travel abroad for many years.

Elina Bystritskaya, who remained faithful to her husband, expected exactly the same attitude towards herself. She trusted Nikolai Kuzminsky and did not even try to control him. As it turned out, he did not justify the trust.

The first bell sounded a few years after the wedding, but then Elina just talked to her husband, hoping that this would be enough. Her husband assured her: it was the first and last time. For a long time, Nikolai Kuzminsky skillfully hid his novels on the side.

Much later, the actress will share: her spouse was less interested in herself, as a person. He had his own worries, for which he had no time to pay attention to the well-being of his wife and her experiences. And his passion for other women all the time called him in search of adventure. When Elina Bystritskaya found out about her husband's infidelities, she immediately filed for divorce.

In the early 1980s, she was left alone. She was never able to let anyone else into her life. Elina Avraamovna did not suffer from a lack of admirers, but she herself did not feel heartfelt affection for anyone, without which, in her opinion, a family should not be created.

Beautiful, proud, amazing Elina Bystritskaya devoted herself entirely to creativity and social activities. But even today she does not believe that a woman can be happy only with work.

Despite the extraordinary talent and spectacular appearance, Elina Bystritskaya played relatively few roles. The audience remembers her mainly in the image of Aksinya from “Quiet Don” and do not suspect that there could be much more such roles in her creative biography, if not for certain dramatic circumstances, due to which the actress has not starred in films and was even restricted to travel abroad.