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Video: The joys and sorrows of Lyudmila Savelyeva: How the life of the best Natasha Rostova from "War and Peace"
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
She does not like to give interviews, does not appear at secular parties and in every possible way tries to avoid close attention to herself. Lyudmila Savelyeva prefers to be judged not by articles in the press, but by her roles. In the early 1960s, she had to make a difficult decision that would change her life forever. How was the fate of the best Natasha Rostova, does she regret her choice today?
Hard choice
In 1942, in besieged Leningrad, a girl was born, who was nursed by her mother and grandmother. They miraculously managed to save the baby's life, and then take care of her for a long time in order to strengthen her health, undermined by a cold and hungry infancy.
Little Lyudmila grew up, gained strength, listened to classical music on the radio and danced in front of a mirror, inventing the very first ballet steps in her life. Grandmother watched her granddaughter for a long time, and then took her hand and took her to a ballet school.
At the age of 20, Lyudmila Savelyeva graduated from the Vaganova Choreographic School and was enrolled in the troupe of the Kirov Theater, in the group of soloists. She was young and talented and could have made a brilliant ballet career if one day she had not been noticed by Sergei Bondarchuk's assistant. Tatyana Sergeevna Likhacheva, despite the director's categorical ban on looking for candidates for the role among ballerinas, nevertheless brought young Lyudmila Savelyeva to the audition.
Bondarchuk, she seemed too young for such a difficult role, when Lyudmila appeared on the site already in the form of a heroine, I realized that he could not find a better Natasha. And Lyudmila Savelyeva did not disappoint. She gave herself completely to the role, torn between filming and theater. Then she faced a choice: ballet or cinema. She once dreamed of becoming a ballet star and now was forced to give up her dream.
After much deliberation, the young actress chose War and Peace. Time has shown that then she made the right choice. But life was ready to present it with surprises more than once, forcing again and again to doubt the correctness of the decision once made.
READ ALSO: Lyudmila Savelyeva: the best Natasha Rostova comes from besieged Leningrad >>
Love on the set
In Lyusya, as everyone affectionately called the actress during the filming, it was simply impossible not to fall in love: the charmingly direct, fragile, sublime girl won the hearts of everyone around her, without exception. And she met her fate right there, at Mosfilm.
Alexander Zbruev starred in a nearby pavilion in the film by Alexei Sakharov "Clean Ponds". They met in the corridor, and Alexander Zbruev immediately forgot about all his worries associated with the recent divorce from Valentina Malyavina. A fragile beauty with wide-open blue eyes instantly won the heart of the young actor.
Lyudmila and Alexander soon became husband and wife, and a year later their daughter was born, named after the heroine of Leo Tolstoy's novel Natasha. The girl grew up talented and showed great promise, she managed to star in the film by Mikhail Kazakov "If you believe Lopotukhin." But later she experienced a personal tragedy, which negatively affected her health.
Lyudmila Savelyeva and Alexander Zbruev diligently protect the fragile health of their daughter, therefore they do not allow journalists and photographers to appear in the house. Especially after the case when the photographs of Natalia, who was hospitalized after an accidental injury, flew around all the yellow editions.
After the ball
After filming in War and Peace, Lyudmila Savelyeva became a popular favorite and a world star. It was she who received the Oscar when the film won the award. She took part in international film festivals, starred with Vittorio De Sica in the Soviet-Italian film "Sunflowers". Next to her worked such masters of cinema as Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren.
Offers fell on her, as if from a cornucopia, and Lyudmila Savelyeva refused. No, she did not make the decision to leave the cinema, but she wanted to play a role that would be radically different from Natasha Rostova. She did not want to remain an actress in one role and play naive girls over and over again.
She decided to act only in the film that she liked, or not to act at all. It was then that doubts began to creep in as to whether she did the right thing, leaving her dreams of ballet. But in 1970 the film "Running" by Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov was released. Lyudmila Mikhailovna played the role of Serafima Korzukhina and proved to herself and the whole world that her role is not limited to Natasha Rostova. After filming, she was invited to dinner by the widow of Mikhail Bulgakov, based on whose works the film was filmed. Many years have passed, and Lyudmila Savelyeva carefully keeps the scarf presented to her by Elena Shilovskaya, the last love of the famous writer.
Love in spite of
Life put her to the test again, this time for strength. When Lyudmila Savelyeva found out that for many years her husband had a second family, where her daughter was growing up, of course, the actress was worried. But she never made a single word to understand how bitter she was.
Lyudmila Mikhailovna and Alexander Viktorovich managed to overcome all difficulties and keep the family together. For our daughter, for ourselves. They meet their sunset with dignity, not cultivating old grievances, but maintaining mutual respect.
The only thing the actress regrets is that no director has used her ballerina talent. But Lyudmila Savelyeva could brilliantly cope with this role.
The film "War and Peace", directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, made Lyudmila Savelyeva a star and became one of the most expensive in Soviet cinema. It took 6 years to shoot, and the epoch-making scene of the Battle of Borodino is considered the largest in the history of world cinema. War and Peace was critically acclaimed and won an Academy Award, among other awards. But on the set, the filmmakers had a lot of difficulties.
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Lyudmila Savelyeva: the best Natasha Rostova comes from besieged Leningrad
Director Sergei Bondarchuk long doubted which of the actresses to approve for the role of Natasha Rostova in the film "War and Peace". Ballerina Lyudmila Savelyeva seemed to him not the best contender: inexpressive appearance, unsuccessful auditions, lack of experience in filming. But later he did not regret his choice - the whole world fell in love with Lyudmila Savelyeva, she was recognized as the best actress who embodied the image of Natasha Rostova on the screen