Valentina Sorogozhskaya is an unprofessional Soviet film actress who starred in only two films and became famous thanks to the role of Vasilisa the Beautiful in the classic fairy tale of the same name by Alexander Rowe. This article describes why the actress did not continue her career, and how her future life came about.
Biography
Valentina Sorogozhskaya was born on July 7, 1912 in the Moscow region, in the family of a landowner. Valentina and her sister Tamara grew up in an atmosphere of love and friendship. Education was strict, but fair, and the interests of the family were always put at the forefront. However, after the 1917 revolution, a strong union cracked - the father of the family did not want to accept the revolution, since he was white and did not intend to share his property. Fearing for the life of her daughters, his wife, who turned out to be more insightful, took valuables and fled with Valentina and Tamara to Moscow. There she gave her daughters her maiden name - Sorogozhskaya. Nothing is known about the future fate of their father, his origin was kept secret, and even his name was practically not mentioned in personal conversations. Young Valentina Sorogozhskaya in the photo below.
Vasilisa the Beautiful
Valentina Sorogozhskaya never aspired to become an actress - values instilled in her father sat tightly in the girl. After working two years as a worker, twenty-year-old Valentina married Fedor Sedykh - also a worker. In marriage, Valentina left the service and became a housewife.
In 1939, the couple already had two children - a son and a daughter, when suddenly twenty-seven-year-old Valentina was invited to the cinema. The famous Soviet director, master of fairy-tale films, Alexander Rowe always preferred to choose a new face for each of his fairy-tale heroines, primarily considering unprofessional actresses - it began with Valentina Sorogozhskaya.
Preparing for the filming of his second independent film "Vasilisa the Beautiful", Rowe could not find his Vasilisa. And now, when it was already necessary to start filming, an assistant for the selection of actors literally burst into the director’s office - he saw a girl on the street that impressed him with her traditional Russian beauty and the article. The assistant asked her for permission to photograph - and now stood in front of Row with freshly printed photographs and the address that Valentina gave in the hope of receiving photographs by mail. Rowe was completely delighted with the girl's appearance and did not want to see anyone else in the role of Vasilisa.
True, Valentin Sorogozhskaya had to be persuaded. Firstly, she was terribly angry that she had been deceived by asking to take a photo, and secondly, her husband was very jealous of the low opinion of the cinema. As a result, Alexander Row himself came to Valentina and Fyodor: he brought the script, told in colors what the film would be, and why without Madame Sedykh it could not take place. As a result, the husband allowed, and Valentina, already inspired by the director’s story, gladly agreed to participate.
Despite the lack of experience, actress Valentina Sorogozhskaya showed herself brilliantly. She embodied the image of a real Russian beauty from a fairy tale - beautiful and smart, combining a tender soul and a solid character.
It is curious that Ror decided to write the last name in the credits, although Valentina had already lived under the name of Sedykh for seven years. In addition, the surname was spelled with an error - "Sarogozhskaya".
"There was a soldier from the front"
During filming in Vasilisa the Beautiful at the Soyuzdetfilm studio, Valentina Sorogozhskaya was noticed by another director, Vladimir Legoshin. He was preparing to shoot the film "The Soldier was from the Front" - based on the novel by Valentin Kataev, "I, the son of the working people," which tells of the Civil War. Filming at Rowe ended, and Legoshin invited the aspiring actress in his film to the role of Sophia, the bride of Semyon Kotko, the main character of the film. Fascinated by the filming, Sorogozhskaya agreed without hesitation.
“The soldier was walking from the front” was released in 1939, while the audience saw “Vasilisa the Beautiful” only in 1940. So in fact, the film Legoshin became the first in the filmography of the actress, although shooting at Rowe began earlier.
Both films aroused the indignation of Fedor Sedykh - primarily because Valentina was recorded under the maiden name in the credits.
Retirement
In 1940, Rowe again turned to Sorogozhskaya with a proposal for filming: the director planned the film adaptation of The Humpbacked Horse and wanted to see Valentina as Zarya Zaryanitsa. But this time her husband’s negative answer was categorical. Valentina, accustomed to putting her family first, was forced to abandon new shootings.
And then the war began. In 1941, Fedor went to the front with the first stream of volunteers. Valentina was left alone, already with three children - in early 1941, the second son of the Sedykh spouses was born.
In 1944, Alexander Rowe again offered Valentina a role in his new film, Kaschei the Immortal, this time representing Sorogozhskaya in the image of Marya Morevna. But the actress again answered with a decisive refusal: war, loneliness and constant fear for children did not allow her to go against her husband’s will. Fedor Sedykh returned home at the very end of the war, in 1945. He was very happy to know that his wife refused the next shoot - it seemed to him that he was glad even more than the fact of meeting his whole family healthy and alive.
The first month after four years of separation was the last happy month of the Sedykh family: soon the jealous Fedor began to torture his wife with suspicions of treason in his absence. When, after a year and a half after the end of the war, it became clear that Fedor himself was by no means faithful to his wife, and letters began to come in large numbers from a “front-line girlfriend”, Valentina decided to follow in her mother's footsteps - one day she gathered children and left her husband.
Second marriage
Only in 1954, at the age of 42, Valentine agreed to a new marriage. Her second husband was then still gaining popularity actor Eugene Teterin, for whom this marriage also became the second.
This marriage was happy, Eugene accepted all three of Valentina’s children as relatives. The couple lived in perfect harmony for 33 years - until the death of Teterin in 1987.
Death
Sorogozhskaya Valentina Mikhailovna died in June 1988 at the age of 76. The cause of death was heart failure, most likely due to inconsolable grief over Eugene Teterin. The actress is buried at the Domodedovo cemetery.
Valentina Sorogozhskaya never starred in any other film - with the beginning of her relationship with Teterin, proposals began to come in again, but because of the refusals made to Alexander Row, Valentina did not even consider the proposed roles.