The voice of childhood: the tragic fate of Klara Rumyanova - the actress who voiced the most famous Soviet cartoons

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

Her face is hardly known to the general public - she spent almost her entire life behind the scenes. Clara Rumyanova voiced about 300 cartoons, among her most famous works - "Well, wait!", "Crocodile Gena", "The Wizard of the Emerald City", "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", "Puss in Boots", "Dunno", "Little Raccoon", "Kid and Carlson "," Umka "and others. All songs loved from childhood were sung by Rumyanova. Unfortunately, her fate was tragic. 12 years ago, on September 18, 2004, the actress died in loneliness, disease and poverty.

Since childhood, Clara dreamed of becoming an actress and entered VGIK on her first attempt. In her youth, she had a very low voice, alto, but after suffering pneumonia, she suddenly spoke in a very high timbre, which later became her calling card in all voiced cartoons.

Nikolai Rybnikov and Alla Larionova studied on the same course with Rumyanova, who later became one of the strongest married couples in Soviet cinema. But at that time Rybnikov did not notice Larionova at all - he lost his head from Klara Rumyanova and was on duty at her entrance for hours. The girl did not respond to his advances: “How can he sit his pants for hours? Of course, I will never meet such a fool,”she said indignantly.

Once Rybnikov borrowed money from friends and bought a gold watch for Klara. She slapped him in the face and did not accept the gift. In a rage, the boyfriend threw the watch out the window, and after that he had to sit on one buckwheat for several months in order to pay back the debts. The episode with the clock was later included in the famous film with his participation - "Girls". 5 years after graduation, Rybnikov married Alla Larionova and lived with her all his life. 2 years before his death, when Rybnikov was in the hospital after a microstroke, Rumyanova visited him and admitted that she was very sorry about her refusal.

At that time, Rumyanova really had reasons for refusal. At the age of 16, she married a young pianist. The marriage broke up after 3 months, when the husband delivered an ultimatum: either he or the movie. Clara was then in her second month of pregnancy and after parting with her husband, she had a clandestine abortion, which is why she was forever deprived of the opportunity to have children. Therefore, the VGIKA freshman was in no hurry to start new relationships.

Her second husband was the actor A. Chemodurov, known for his role as Levashov in "Young Guard". Due to the lack of creative demand, he began to have problems with alcohol, which is why the marriage broke up. The third husband of Rumyanova tormented her with his jealousy, therefore this marriage did not last long. The actress was courted by many famous artists, according to Rumyanova, among her rejected fans was even V. Vysotsky. But as a result, she was left alone, without family and children.

Rumyanova had a difficult character that almost cost her her acting career. Once the all-powerful general director of "Mosfilm" Ivan Pyriev offered her the main role in his film. After reading the script for the melodrama, the actress replied: “I do not like the role offered to me, nor your script. This picture is doomed to failure. "Pyryev and for lesser sins removed the actresses from filming, it is not surprising that for several years Rumyanova was not filmed anywhere.

Later she played in several films, the most famous of these works was the role of the priest in "The Twelve Chairs" (1971), but all-Union popularity was brought to her not by film works, but by the voice acting of animated characters. In every second Soviet cartoon, Rumyanova's voice sounded, and her children's songs became real hits. She became the only actress awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR for her work in animation. And in the competition for the best voice in world animation, Rumyanova was awarded first place.

After the USSR collapsed and Soyuzmultfilm closed, Rumyanova was left without work and was experiencing a severe depression. Her mother died, and the actress was left all alone. In addition, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, but she had neither the money nor the strength to fight the disease. Rumyanova often told her acquaintances about the desire to commit suicide. She did not watch TV, did not listen to the radio, did not leave the house and repeated that she did not see the meaning in life. The disease was aggravated by pneumonia, and in 2004 the actress died. The organization of the funeral was carried out by the Guild of Film Actors, since she had no close relatives.

Nikolai Rybnikov also had to find out what oblivion is after its overwhelming popularity: why the guy from Zarechnaya street stopped acting in films