Unfabulous fate of Alyonushka: Where did the star of the fairy tale film "Finist - Clear Falcon" disappear?

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

In the filmography of this actress - more than 40 works, but most of all she was remembered by the audience for her "fabulous" roles - Alyonushka in the film "Finist - the Clear Falcon", a princess in the movie "The Princess and the Pea" and the Snow Maiden from "Ice Granddaughter". In the 1970s-1980s. new films with the participation of Svetlana Orlova were released annually, and then she suddenly disappeared from the screens. How the fate of the actress after she left the cinema - further in the review.

In her youth, Svetlana Orlova did not dream of an acting profession. Svetlana was born in Kaliningrad and grew up in Kazakhstan, where the family moved when she was 5 years old. There, the girl began to attend a choreographic circle at the Palace of Culture. Once teachers of the choreographic school at the Bolshoi Theater arrived in Alma-Ata, who drew attention to the talent of the young dancer and invited her to study in Moscow. This was the first, but not the only lucky chance that decided the further fate of Orlova. When she was studying in Moscow, an assistant director from a film studio once came to their school, looking for an elegant girl with aristocratic features. At that time, this practice was already quite widespread - if it was not possible to find suitable types in the theater schools, they were often looked for among the "ballet" ones. So Svetlana Druzhinina, Natalya Arinbasarova, Lyudmila Savelyeva and others came to the cinema.

Later Orlova said: "".

The schedule of classes and rehearsals at the choreographic school was very tense, and Svetlana was so tired during the many hours of training in the classroom at the barn that she did not even think about anything other than dancing. Therefore, during the auditions, she did not try to attract attention to herself and did not make an impression on the director. In addition, he was surprised that at the age of 13 she read simple children's poems. She was asked to prepare better next time and learn something different. Orlova reacted to this request without enthusiasm, but her discipline did not allow her to refuse. And although she again did not make the necessary efforts, the director Boris Buneev drew attention to her expressive eyes and decided to take a risk, entrusting the debutante with the main role in his film "Little Farm in the Steppe" based on the novel by Valentin Kataev. So, even at school age, Svetlana Orlova began acting in films.

Her debut was successful, and others followed her first role. In 1974, Orlova graduated from the choreographic school and was supposed to return to Kazakhstan by distribution to perform at the local opera house, but then her fate was again decided by a lucky chance - at that moment she was offered the lead role in the fairy tale film "Finist - the Clear Falcon" … The famous director Alexander Rowe, who was preparing to shoot another fairy tale, approved the role of Alenushka Orlova. But he did not live up to the start of filming, and his student, Gennady Vasiliev, was working on the film.

Orlova's partner on the set was Mikhail Kononov, who played the role of the clerk Yashka in the film. At that time, he was already a real screen star after the main role in "Big Change", but he kept himself very simple and all the time tried to cheer up the young actress, who, as it seemed to him, had too sad eyes. He told her "salty" jokes, and she laughed. The shooting took place in a village near Moscow, and the actors were settled in peasant huts. Orlova lived with the make-up artist Zoya Fyodorovna in a room above the extension for the bird. One night they heard a noise on the roof - Kononov drank too much and decided to visit the girl. But a neighbor looked out instead. When asked what he was doing there, the actor answered with a laugh: "".

In the image of Alyonushka, she was remembered by the audience of the entire USSR. This role became fateful not only in her film career - during the filming, Svetlana accidentally met a medical student Yuri, whose mother worked as an editor at Goskino. Soon he became her husband and helped her get a job in the ensemble "Variety Patterns" at the Rosconcert. Orlova began touring throughout the country. In parallel, she continued to act in films, every year more and more offers were received, and soon Svetlana left the ensemble and focused on filming.

Best of all, the actress succeeded in fairytale heroines: a sad princess in the film "The Princess and the Pea", a beautiful maiden in "Gift of the Black Sorcerer", the Snow Queen in "The Amazing Adventures of Denis Korablev", Lyubasha-Snegurochka in "Ice Granddaughter", a lady-in-waiting in " To the doctor's apprentice. " Some of these works have won prizes at international film festivals: Ice Granddaughter was awarded the Three Golden Elephants in India, and The Princess and the Pea and Finist - Clear Falcon were awarded prizes in Spain. The beautiful actress was invited to a film festival in France, but the Ministry of Culture of the USSR did not give her the opportunity to go there.

Her striking appearance allowed her to realize herself not only in the acting profession. In the 1970s-1980s. Svetlana Orlova worked as a photo model in the association of photo advertising at Vneshtorg. She participated in shows as a fashion model and starred for posters and fashion magazines. Her portraits in fur coats, diamonds and Vologda lace were sent abroad as an advertisement for Soviet goods.

In the late 1980s. the fairy tale in her life suddenly ended. At 35, her husband passed away due to heart failure. Svetlana was pregnant at that time. She had to raise her son, whose appearance they had been waiting for so long, on her own. A crisis broke out in the cinema, and Orlova was unclaimed in the profession. She was offered only scenarios with frank scenes, and after the roles of fairy-tale heroines, she considered it simply unacceptable to agree to such works. New times dictated new requirements. For a year Orlova left for Yugoslavia to teach choreography at an art school. And after returning, she received the profession of an aerobics coach and opened her own class of sports aerobics and shaping.

Her last film work was the film "Under the Sign of Scorpio" in 1995. Since then, Svetlana Orlova has not appeared on the screens, but she never said goodbye to the acting profession - she participated in New Year's performances on Sparrow Hills, where she again played fairy-tale characters.

Today, 63-year-old Svetlana Orlova teaches acting at a private school, and also continues to teach classes in sports aerobics. The actress never regretted the end of her film career - she always considered shooting a kind of game and a temporary occupation. In an interview, Orlova admitted: "".

She has not appeared on the screens for a long time, and she is still called one of the the most beautiful princesses of Soviet cinema.