Lyudmila Tselikovskaya - a national actress whom Stalin did not like: a thorny path to fame

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

Each generation has its own idols. In the post-war years, the brightest star in the sky of all-Union love shone with a charming and inimitable Lyudmila Tselikovskaya … Despite the audience's recognition, she did not enjoy Stalin's favor, which means that paving the way to theater and cinema was not at all easy. But the talented actress didn't care about anything: starting her triumphal march with the role of Shurochka Murashova in "Hearts of Four", she entered her name in the golden chronicle of Soviet cinema!

Everyone, without exception, was in love with the light image of Lyudmila Tselikovskaya: as soon as the first films with her participation appeared on the screen, women immediately saw her as an idol, and men - an object of adoration. The legendary film "Hearts of Four", filmed even before the start of the war, was never released in the terrible years for the Soviet Union. However, the actress, who managed to declare herself, began to receive invitations to shoot. It was obvious that the front-line soldiers needed a bright female image, and therefore the fearless Lyudmila Tselikovskaya, sparing no effort, starred in films of war films, took part in front-line performances.

Especially for Tselikovskaya, Valentin Kataev wrote the script for the film "Air Carrier". The film adaptation can rightfully be called legendary, because for the soldiers on the front line, this film became a real joy. On the set of "Air Cab" Tselikovskaya met her third husband - the star of Russian cinema, actor Mikhail Zharov, who was 20 years older than her. The first two marriages were unsuccessful, but this story swept over Lyudmila headlong. Both were not free at the time of their acquaintance, but decided to be together. The marriage with Mikhail could be called successful, if not for one "but": Lyudmila dreamed of becoming a mother, and therefore, having met a young and attractive Karo Alabyan, whom she fell in love with, she decided to marry for the fourth time.

The marriage with the famous architect Alabyan became a huge test for Lyudmila Tselikovskaya. After the birth of her son, it seemed that life had improved: the family lived calmly and securely, Lyudmila became a very responsible mother, was engaged in raising a child. But, a few years later, Karo fell out of favor with Beria, was forced to leave for Yerevan, and Lyudmila with her mother and son were evicted into the street. Despite the nationwide recognition, Lyudmila's acting career progressed difficult. The triumph in the film "Ivan the Terrible" did not bring tangible dividends to the actress, except for popular love. Stalin awarded the entire cast with a personalized prize, depriving only Lyudmila of the award. The verdict was unambiguous, the commander-in-chief did not like the queen's lively character.

However, the most terrible test for Lyudmila Tselikovskaya was not the coldness of the government, but the illness of her son. Sasha was diagnosed with a rare form of polio. Abandoning her job, the caring mother devoted herself entirely to treatment. With titanic efforts, they managed to defeat the disease, the guy grew up completely healthy.

Karo Halabyan eventually managed to return to the capital, but soon died of lung cancer. In the life of Lyudmila, the last, fifth, marriage happened with the director of the Taganka theater Yuri Lyubimov. They lived for 20 years, all these years fighting with the scornful attitude of the theatrical beau monde. They stopped filming Tselikovskaya, the performances written by Lyubimov were banned. The situation of tension and constant quarrels exhausted the actress, unemployment meant oblivion, which she, of course, was afraid of. They divorced in 1980, and 12 years later, the great actress passed away.

Lyudmila Tselikhovskaya remained an unrecognized actress for a long time, she received the title of People's Artist only in 1963. The creative fate of Lyubov Orlova was completely different - favorite actress of Stalin.