Video: The fading star of Lyudmila Shagalova: Why did the star of "The Marriage of Balzaminov" become a recluse in her declining years
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
She played about 100 roles, but today hardly anyone remembers her name. The very first main role - in the film "Young Guard" - brought her the Stalin Prize at the age of 25, but after that she received only episodes for a long time. All-Union popularity came to the actress after 40 years, when she starred in the films "The Marriage of Balzaminov", "The Tale of Lost Time", "It Can't Be!" 65 years old suddenly decided to leave the cinema. What made Lyudmila Shagalova make such a decision, and why the last 12 years of her life became a real torture for her - further in the review.
Lyudmila Shagalova was born in 1923 into a military family in the Belarusian city of Rogachev. When she was only 2 years old, her mother passed away and her daughter was raised by her father and grandmother. In 1928 he was transferred to Moscow. For the first time, Lyudmila came to the set at the age of 14 thanks to a happy occasion. Once she participated in a rally along with other schoolchildren, this event was broadcast on television, and director Yakov Protazanov drew attention to the charming girl. He tracked her down and invited her to audition for his film "Seventh Graders". So Shagalova got her first role.
Before the start of the war, her father, deputy commissar of the tank industry, was repressed, and Lyudmila was evacuated to Chelyabinsk during the Second World War. There she worked for some time as a security commandant at a tractor plant, but even then she decided that she wanted to connect her life with the acting profession. Returning to Moscow, the girl entered VGIK, where she was lucky enough to get into the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova. In 1948, when Shagalova graduated from the institute, Gerasimov's film "Young Guard" was released, where she played one of the main roles. For the role of Vali Borts, she, along with other young actors, was awarded the Stalin Prize.
The awarding of the Stalin Prize to the actors of the Young Guard was announced on the radio on April 6, 1949, just on the birthday of Lyudmila Shagalova. This was the greatest gift for her. Later she said: "". And this first victory not only opened the way for the young actress to a big cinema, but also played a decisive role in the fate of her father, which Lyudmila herself did not even suspect at that time. The authorities of the camp, where her father was serving time, looked at the "Young Guard" and learned about the award of the Stalin Prize to Shagalova, after which the attitude towards her father was revised. He was transferred to a less difficult job, and in 1954 he was released.
After that, the actress began to receive new proposals from the directors, and she even agreed to episodes. There were almost no noticeable roles over the next 15 years - Shagalova played a construction technician, an employee of a factory laboratory, a medical student, a doctor and other supporting roles.
When Shagalova turned 40, and she was already losing hope of getting a serious role, she was suddenly offered to play the mother of the protagonist in the film "The Marriage of Balzaminov." Georgy Vitsin, her on-screen son, was only 6 years older than her, and having received such an offer, the actress almost burst into tears: "" But then she did not have to regret that she agreed to shoot - she coped with her role brilliantly and reincarnated into an old woman so that even her teacher Sergei Gerasimov did not recognize her on the screen. For this role, Lyudmila Shagalova was recognized as the best actress in 1965 according to the results of a survey of readers of the magazine "Soviet Screen".
Her colleague, actress Inna Makarova said: "". Shagalova herself later admitted: "".
After that, Shagalova had many more vivid roles - the old girl Marusya Morozova in The Tale of Lost Time, the main role in the film Believe It or Not, Mrs. Gokins in Treasure Island, the mother of the bride in the comedy Not maybe!”, the director of the kindergarten in the movie“The Mustache Nanny”, Madame Trezh in The Princess of the Circus, Miss Settergren in the movie fairy tale“Pippi Longstocking”, the mother of the main character in the comedy“Where is the naphelet?”. She remained popular and in demand into adulthood, but at the age of 65 she suddenly decided to leave the cinema.
The actress explained her decision as follows: "".
After that, for a long time nothing was known about the actress - she did not appear on screens, did not attend social events, did not attend film festivals, did not receive guests. Only years later, Shagalova admitted that in 2000 she had an unsuccessful operation on her eyes, after which she lost her sight. In an interview, the actress said: "". Only close people knew about her condition.
Fortunately, her husband, the famous cameraman Vyacheslav Shumsky, who in difficult times became her eyes and hands, remained with her all her life. They died with a difference of one year: in 2011 Shumsky died, in 2012 Lyudmila Shagalova died. At that time she was 88 years old.
This film played a fateful role not only in the fate of Lyudmila Shagalova. Behind the scenes of "Young Guard": 2 weddings, fights on the set and the failed marriage of Mordyukova.
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