Vera Alentova and Katya Tikhomirova: what the actress and her most famous screen heroine have in common

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

On February 21, a wonderful theater and film actress, People's Artist of Russia celebrates her 75th birthday Vera Alentova … Despite the large number of roles played by her, the role of Katya Tikhomirova in the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" is still the most famous and popularly loved. And although their fates developed in different ways, Vera Alentova and her screen heroine have much more in common than it might seem at first glance.

Perhaps this role turned out to be so convincing in the performance of Alentova precisely because she also had to conquer the capital, and, like Katya Tikhomirova, Moscow did not submit immediately - this path was long and difficult. She came to the capital's university from Barnaul, where before that she had worked as a laborer at a melange mill for a year. And she got there by the will of her mother, who, upon learning that her daughter secretly got a job in a local drama theater, delivered an ultimatum: if the theater is only a capital one, but for now it is possible to work at the combine.

A year later Alentova went to storm the capital's universities. Unlike the movie heroine, she entered the Studio School at the Moscow Art Theater on the first try. The provincial did not hunt for brilliant Moscow grooms - in her second year she married a hopeless, in the opinion of most teachers, a visiting student, without money and without connections. His name was Vladimir Menshov.

Just like Katya Tikhomirova, the actress fully learned all the difficulties of life in a hostel before she acquired her own housing in Moscow. Their wedding with Menshov was similar to the one that Antonina and Nikolai celebrated in the film: a feast for 30 rubles was arranged in the same hostel, they walked the whole course. And after the wedding, the newlyweds left again - Alentova lived in the dormitory of the theater. Pushkin, and Menshov - in the hostel of VGIK, since it was not possible to get a room in the family hostel.

In 1969 their daughter Julia was born. At the eighth month of pregnancy, Alentova was still on stage and returned to work almost immediately after the birth of her daughter. Money was sorely lacking, the actress had to play 30 performances a month, while her husband studied at VGIK and worked as a loader at night. The young family could not stand the test of lack of money, disorder and hard life, and when their daughter was 3 years old, they separated. True, they were able to live apart for only 4 years, and then realized their mistake and never parted.

Success and recognition came to Alentova in adulthood, she could also say: "Life at 40 is just beginning." She played her famous role at the age of 37. At the same time, initially the script seemed to her flat, and her heroine - much less bright than the sharp-tongued Lyudmila. But Menshov insisted that Katya Tikhomirova was her role. The popularity of the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears" was incredible: in 1980 it was watched by 90 million viewers in the USSR, more than 100 countries of the world bought the film for distribution. He was awarded an Oscar in the USA, Vera Alentova was awarded the State Prize in the USSR, and in 1981 she was recognized as the best actress according to a poll by the Soviet Screen magazine.

After all the trials that befell her, Katerina Tikhomirova was able to achieve success, but at the same time, from a modest girl, she turned into an unbending and categorical "iron lady", the boss "strict but fair." This also has a certain similarity with the character of the actress. Yulia Menshova says: “About my mother, perhaps, you can say“iron lady”. She's actually a very tough person. Mom has another feature that is radically different from me - she is an extremely closed person, an introvert; he treats people very carefully and almost does not let him into his inner world”.

Vera Alentova believes that she had “three happy days” in her life: “Speaking of the absolute, the day when I entered the Studio School at the Moscow Art Theater was an absolutely happy day - the first conscious one. When Julia was born to me - this is the second day … And the third day of absolute happiness is the day of the Oscar award, the film "Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears".

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears was not the only Soviet film to receive an Oscar and other awards: 15 masterpieces of Russian cinema that have received worldwide recognition.