In Soviet cinema, there were so many actresses who personified the “departing nature”. Their face, manners, speech were suitable for the embodiment of heroines from high society, countesses and queens. And a restrained raid of aristocracy would sometimes not hurt a Soviet woman on the screen.
Such an artist was Olga Zhizneva. She was ideally suited for the image of an intelligent mother of a positive protagonist. Although at the beginning of her film career, she also had more frivolous roles.
Born a year before the new century
She was born in the spring of 1899 in St. Petersburg. Her mother, Maria Mikhailovna Zhizneva, died in childbirth. The father was a German - Andreas Neumann, and Olga was brought up in a strict spirit by a grandmother who hardly speaks Russian. The surname was taken by Olga in memory of her mother. Graduation, the choice of a profession, training at a theater school, the beginning of an acting career in the theater fell on a difficult time. But no obstacles did not stop the girl in her desire to become an actress.
She arrived in Moscow in 1919 and easily entered the Drama School at the State Exhibition Theater, but this study turned out to be short-lived and superficial. Therefore, Olga Zhizneva studied at the theater school at the famous A. Korsh Theater in Moscow and then joined his troupe. In the theater, in the role of an insidious seducer, she was seen by the film director, who became famous even before the revolution - Yakov Protazanov. He invited her to the studio "Mezhrabpomfilm" in his new project.
NEP Screen Star
For five years of working in silent cinema, Olga Zhizneva starred in eight films. The roles that she got, demanded from the actress spectacular close-ups, expressive poses and the ability to wear beautiful dresses - these were vamp women. Despite her youth, Zhizneva was a rather experienced professional, and working on the set did not cause her any particular problems.
The 1925 film “His Call” by Yakov Protazanov is considered the first film response to the death of Lenin, although his plot has adventurous and detective features. Olga Zhizneva in her first of 36 film roles plays a character named Lulu - a girl from the emigrant entourage of the main villain.
After the following films - comedies “Cutter from Torzhok” (1925), “The Process of Three Million” (1926), - hits and leaders of hire, Zhizneva becomes a real star.
Meeting for life
Having begun her career in the theater, Zhizneva gradually became only a film actress. She was able to easily overcome the stage of the transition to sound cinema, which became a problem for many actors and even turned into a popular story move. Her magical beauty and expressiveness voice was considered by many to be its main advantage.
The film about the revolutionary struggle of the miners in one of the countries of South America (“The Ghost That Will Not Return”), shot in 1929, was special for the actress. For the first time, she changed her role, and the main in her image became human feelings, not dresses and neckline.
The adaptation of the novel by Henry Barbusse was called by critics and viewers one of the best Soviet films created at the turn of the decade. Filmed as dumb, after a while he was voiced. But not only therefore, Olga Zhizneva forever remembered him. The personal life of the actress after this film was determined for many years: she first starred in her future husband - director Abram Matveyevich Rome. By the time of their meeting, Zhizneva managed to become a widower, and Rome divorced. They were destined to live together for more than forty years. The actress had no children, but always treated her stepdaughter Elena as her own daughter.
"Strict young man" (1934)
This film, scripted by Yuri Olesha, was originally strange and not entirely Soviet. Heroes from the then reality were transferred to a strange, ideal, similar to the antique world. Other dreams, other ideals, different morality were relevant in it. The heroine of Life was like an animated statue of a goddess, but not a Soviet woman.
The film was banned, labels and actors were labeled, making it difficult for them to continue working in the movie. Olga returned to the theater, where she played several vivid roles, the most notable being Anna Karenina. She easily succeeded in transitioning to age roles.
She was lucky for the directors
Olga Zhizneva, whose films have always been part of the golden fund of domestic cinema, has been a very sought-after actress for almost all her life. She worked with the most famous Soviet film masters: V. Pudovkin (“Assassins go out onto the road”, 1942, however, this film, like “The Strict Young Man” was not allowed on the screen), Mikhail Romm (“Admiral Ushakov”, 1953), L. Lukov ("Different Fates", 1956), S. Rostotsky ("Let's Live Until Monday", 1968) and many others.
She worked both during the war, in evacuation (in Alma-Ata), and after, during the “little picture” period. The last film, released shortly before Geneva passed away in 1972, was “The Property of the Republic”, where she again appeared as a Russian aristocrat, only in the image of “a man is not from here.”
Her husband, Abram Rome, who appreciated her talent, tried to shoot her in each of his films, said: “She is the astral Life. Olga is an actress that even I couldn’t solve ... ”