Don't be born beautiful: how Elina Bystritskaya had to pay for her bright appearance and straightforward character

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

April 4 marks 89 years of the famous theater and film actress, People's Artist of the USSR, one of the most beautiful stars of the Soviet screen Elina Bystritskaya … The whole country admired her bewitching beauty, while the actress herself often became a hostage of this universal admiration - after all, it was often accompanied by envy. In addition, she always treated annoying boyfriends rather harshly, and among them there were influential people …

The fame of an unapproachable beauty with a strong character was entrenched in her since her youth, although she herself did not consider her appearance extraordinary: “I was never told about my appearance in my childhood. I first heard about this when I was 13, in a hospital. The two wounded are talking: "Look what a pretty girl!" I looked around - no one … Then I looked in the mirror for a long time - I did not find anything interesting. Mom brought me up very strictly … ".

The results of this strict upbringing were soon experienced by her classmates. After graduating from a medical college, having received a diploma as an obstetrician-gynecologist and having taken 15 births, Elina Bystritskaya realized that she would never be able to work as a doctor. At that time, she became interested in theater and decided to enter the theater institute in her hometown - Kiev. After the first year, she was known as one of the best students and one of the first beauties. Many looked after her, but everyone got a turn from the gate. The 20-year-old freshman was even nicknamed "the blue stocking" for her intractable nature.

In the last year of the institute, she had to apply "physical measures" to annoying admirers: those who did not understand the words, she did not hesitate to weighed out slaps in the face. And Bystritskaya's hand was heavy - after one such slap in the face, the unfortunate joker flew almost 3 meters away. The teachers became witnesses of this scene, who immediately accused her of hooligan behavior - after all, this slap in the face was far from the first. Because of this incident, at a meeting of the Komsomol organization, it was decided to expel her from the Komsomol and expel from the institute, but at that time everything worked out. Bystritskaya was so worried about this stupid incident that she even thought about suicide.

After the final exams, Bystritskaya was assigned to the Kherson Drama Theater. The chief director came to Kiev to personally select new actors. Seeing a pretty student, he immediately invited her out on a date to a restaurant - needless to say, he received a categorical refusal in return. In those days, the Moscow Theater of the Mossovet was on tour in Kiev, and the girl decided on a desperate step - she asked for an appointment with the director Yuri Zavadsky. She managed to convince him that she should be accepted into the troupe, but soon, instead of being summoned from Moscow, she was refused. Her long-standing envious tried to send about 20 anonymous letters to the theater about her "immoral behavior."

Bystritskaya got a job at the Vilnius Drama Theater. In 1954, the 26-year-old actress made her film debut in the film Peaceful Days. And a year later she was recognized as the best actress according to a poll by the newspaper "Soviet Culture". She was included in the delegation that went to Paris for the first Week of Soviet Film. And upon her return, she successfully auditioned for the role of Aksinya in Sergei Gerasimov's "Quiet Don". The director's student Nonna Mordyukova claimed for this role, because of the refusal she almost committed suicide. But Mikhail Sholokhov himself insisted on Bystritskaya's candidacy, seeing in her the real heroine of his novel. The role of Aksinya became Bystritskaya's acting triumph. Quiet Flows the Don was recognized as the film of the year 1957, and was watched by 47 million viewers.

In 1959, Bystritskaya was enrolled in the troupe of the Maly Theater. There she again paid for her straightforwardness: she told the director that his wife could not play Madame Bovary because of problems with her figure, and after that, for 1, 5 years, Bystritskaya lost her roles. For the same reason, the actress spoiled her relationship with Sholokhov - she allowed herself a sharp attack on him. And after she refused reciprocity to the official who headed the Soviet delegation in England, she became restricted to travel abroad for several years.

Due to rumors about Bystritskaya's quarrelsome nature and rejection of roles, there was a 27-year break in her film career - the directors simply stopped inviting her to shoot. The uncompromising character prevented the actress from building personal happiness: she could not forgive her husband for cheating, and after parting with him, she no longer married.

Bystritskaya admits: “It was my life that I am alone … The choice is that it would be possible to be with someone, but for this, from my point of view, there must be certain qualities in relationships. The wisdom of Omar Khayyam is closer to me: "It's better to be alone than with just anyone."

Bystritskaya looks impressive in adulthood: 15 photos of the most beautiful woman of the past century