Blood ties: How Nina Ruslanova became the sister of Alexander Kaidanovsky

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

There were no family ties between them. But Alexander Kaidanovsky and Nina Ruslanova seriously considered themselves blood brothers and sisters. And they even performed an incest ritual. It might sound like funny romanticism today. But then everything was very serious for aspiring actors.

Orphanage

She was found half-frozen at about two months of age at a station in Bohodukhiv (Ukraine) and sent to an orphanage in Kharkov. The inspector of orphanages, who came to them a few years later, asked little Nina her name and surname. The baby called her name, but said that she did not have a surname, she did not know her. A respectable lady said: there is a wonderful Russian singer Lidia Ruslanova and now Nina will bear her last name. The actress herself sincerely believes that she inherited the talent of a great singer with her surname.

When she realized that all the kids in the orphanage have birthdays, they are congratulated at the end of the month, she demanded a personal holiday for herself. Nina was asked to choose the date herself by removing the tear-off calendar from the wall. On the sheet on December 5, there was a very beautiful picture: an elegant man with a child on his shoulders, balloons and flags. The picture symbolized the Day of the Constitution, at that time still Stalinist.

Nina's childhood was very difficult. In the orphanage, she was disliked for her unusually light skin and hair. One of the teachers, looking at the baby, dropped that she looked like a German woman. The children picked up the nickname, however, they called her more a fascist and severely beat her for it. Nina was very worried, fell ill with enuresis.

A real miracle helped her to step over the dark strip in her life: on someone's advice, Nina went to church. Not knowing what to do there, she just greeted loudly. And the very next morning she found her bed dry.

Dream of the stage

Despite the endless persecution, Nina participated in amateur performances, sang, danced and dreamed of becoming an artist. But after graduating from the eight-year school she ended up in a school, where she received the profession of a painter-plasterer.

She worked at a construction site, finished evening school and understood that her mission was not at all to plaster the walls. Having received a certificate, the girl went to enroll in an artist. From the very first time she went through a competition to a theater institute in Kharkov. An unremarkable, but very stubborn and conflicted student was remembered by teachers and students for her self-confidence. She knew for sure that she would become a famous actress.

But Nina Ruslanova did not finish her studies in Kharkoy. Upon learning that there was a global shortage of boys at the Shchukin School, she took the documents from the Kharkov Institute and appeared before the bright eyes of the commission with the words: "Listen to me, as a boy, I agree to play male roles."

But they took her all the same as a girl, on the condition that she get rid of the Ukrainian accent. So her new life began, she became a student at the Shchukin Theater School on the course of Vera Lvova. Nina Ruslanova knew for sure: she would definitely conquer this big city, and after it the whole country.

Difficult study

There were many talents on the course with Nina Ruslanova. Vladimir Kachan, Boris Galkin, Leonid Filatov, Ivan Dykhovichny and Alexander Kaidanovsky studied with her. She was able to make friends with everyone, but Sasha Kaidanovsky became much more for the future actress than just a friend.

In the first year, when Nina was just settling in Moscow, it was incredibly difficult for her. She studied very conscientiously, and after lectures and rehearsals she hurried to work in the clinic, where she got a job as a cleaner. Nina slept in a dormitory on a cot for a long time. But at night she also worked out her speech, trying to get rid of the Ukrainian accent. She rehearsed in the shower, because there the sound was reflected from the tiled walls, and the future actress heard all her mistakes well.

Newfound brother

In the first year, Alexander Kaidanovsky drew attention to her. No, he did not try to establish a romantic relationship with her, he was just very sorry for this touching classmate who works so hard and is ready to do everything to justify the hopes of her teachers. He was especially sorry for the fact that Nina was in the orphanage. He had a chance to live there for several months and he knew how harsh the reality in these places.

He ran to her dormitory and offered to become a brother. Nina did not understand at all what her classmate was talking about. She decided that it was necessary to submit some documents to the court, by the decision of which they would be declared brother and sister.

However, Sasha suggested an option that was not at all official, but effective. Apparently, he read this method in one of the books. They cut each other's hands, poured a few drops of blood into a cup and drank. Since then, they sincerely began to consider themselves brother and sister. Kaidanovsky did his best to help his provincial sister. Now it seems like a simple youthful romanticism, but at that moment in the lives of young people everything was unusually serious.

When he offered to play Gertrude from Hamlet in one of his student works, she herself did not believe that something could come of it, with her not at all aristocratic appearance. But Nina Ruslanova was amazing in this role. Everyone thought that her talent was revealed precisely in Gertrude. It was he, Sasha Kaidanovsky, who discovered something royal in her.

Nina Ruslanova and Alexander Kaidanovsky maintained warm relations until the very departure of the talented actor and director in 1995. Nina Ruslanova and her daughter came to visit him when he was already sick. He remained the only brother of the actress for life.

Nina Ruslanova in the film "Winter Cherry"

Nina Ruslanova believed that the talent was passed on to her along with the name of the famous singer. It's good that the actress did not have a chance to go through the trials that befell her. Lydia Ruslanova.