The tragic fate of the first beauty of Soviet cinema of the 1950s: the years of oblivion and the mystery of the death of Künn Ignatova

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

In the 1950s-1960s. this actress was admired by thousands of spectators, she was one of the brightest stars of Soviet cinema. In the 1970s. Kyunna Ignatova disappeared from the screens, and soon even the most devoted fans forgot about her. And 30 years ago, at the end of February 1988, she was found on the floor of her own apartment with no signs of life. Friends and relatives still argue about the reasons and circumstances of her premature departure.

Probably, her bright appearance was due to the fact that Yakut, Russian and Jewish blood were mixed in her - her father, one of the leading ethnographers of Yakutia, Nikolai Alekseev, was half Yakut, and her mother had Russian and Jewish roots. Translated from Yakut, the name Künn means "sun". Although she was born and raised in Moscow, when Kühnna became a famous actress, in Yakutia she was greeted as a "national treasure."

When Kunna was little, her parents separated, her father left for Yakutia, and her mother remarried. The girl was raised by her stepfather, whose surname she glorified soon. After graduating from the Shchukin School, Künn Ignatova was admitted to the Moscow Theater of Drama and Comedy, and in 1961 she moved to the Moscow Art Theater.

Her film debut took place in 1955 in the film "Liang" and was incredibly successful: the whole Union fell in love with her. And she herself married actor Vyacheslav Sokolov and gave birth to a son, Peter. However, this marriage did not last long: on the set of Leonid Gaidai's first film "The Long Way", she met a man who played a fatal role in her life. Vladimir Belokurov at that time was a movie star of the first magnitude. He was 31 years older than Künnes, but easily won the heart of the young actress.

In 1961 Künn Ignatova married Vladimir Belokurov. Since then, her film career has declined. Familiar family members said that the famous actor simply "crushed" his wife - he did not want her to equal him in popularity, and believed that a woman should always remain "behind" her husband. They said that in this marriage, the actress felt bound hand and foot. In addition, there were rumors that Belokurov had addicted his wife to alcohol - in the acting environment, gatherings in a restaurant after performances were commonplace. However, Künn's son Peter denies that the degree of this dependence was catastrophic.

In the early 1970s. the actress left her husband for the actor Alexander Dick, who was 14 years younger than his chosen one and only 9 years older than her son. And Belokurov died six months after his wife left. The son Peter did not find a common language with the mother's new husband, they often clashed in the presence of Kühnna, and again there was no well-being and mutual understanding in the family. Nevertheless, the actress lived with her third husband for 17 years. Her professional life also did not go well: in the Moscow Art Theater, the actress received only cameo roles, in the play "Three Sisters" she played a maid for 25 years. Since the early 1970s. she did not appear on screens. Both in the theater and in the cinema, her acting potential has remained unrealized.

On February 18, 1988, the 53-year-old actress did not show up for rehearsal. Colleagues went to her home the next day and found her unconscious on the floor. According to other sources, her husband found her after returning from a tour. Kunna Ignatova died two days later in the hospital. The cause of death was called acute heart failure and cerebral hemorrhage. What caused this is still a mystery. Relatives suggest that the actress fell and hit her head. Acquaintances claim that she was intoxicated, although this fact has not received official confirmation. A version of suicide was also put forward, but it remained unproven, besides, the relatives are sure that the actress had no reason for this - she was making plans for the future and was not in a state of depression.

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The fate of another movie star of the 1950s-1960s was also not easy. Svetlana Kharitonova: Why the famous actress got a criminal record and ended up below the poverty line.