Ekaterina Savina is an actress that few remember today. But the name of her most famous heroine was heard at least once by every resident of the post-Soviet space. In 1963, a movie about a talented girl from Siberia Fros Burlakova was released. The picture was watched by more than 14 million viewers. Seven years after the premiere of the film "Come Tomorrow", actress Ekaterina Savina tragically died.
She was a born artist, but did not at all correspond to the usual stereotypes about people of art. Catherine Savina was not selfish, narcissistic. She did not like to be in the spotlight. She just wanted to give people joy. When she realized that this was impossible, she stepped into the abyss - to where they didn’t come back from.
Yeltsovka
Ekaterina Savina was originally from the same village from where her heroine arrived from Moscow - from Yeltsovka in the Altai Territory. There is an episode in the film “Come Tomorrow” when Frosya Burlakova writes a letter to her family, mentioning fellow villagers. These are not fictional characters, but real people. The script for the film was written with the direct participation of the actress. Moreover, the director Yevgeny Tashkov shot this picture for his wife and about his wife.
Yeltsovka is three hundred kilometers from Barnaul. Among the inhabitants of a tiny Siberian village, today there are those who remember the kind, open girl Katya Savina, who dreamed of becoming an artist.
In 2011, a museum was opened in Yeltsovka in memory of the great actress. It is located in the house where Ekaterina's girlfriend lived - Evdokia Burlakova, a woman from whom Savina borrowed her surname.
To Moscow
The family of the future actress was not poor. My father worked as an accountant and once bought Kate a gramophone. Catherine Savina from an early age listened to music, developed vocal cords. And in 1945 she went into the unknown - to Moscow.
Yeltsovka did not know what kind of life the residents of the capital lead. They did not have either televisions or radios. The act of the future actress can safely be called desperate. A girl from a deep Siberian village went to a huge city in order to become an artist, not knowing anything about the conditions for entering a theater university, having nothing but great talent.
In order to find out interesting facts from the biography of Ekaterina Savina, just watch the movie "Come Tomorrow". The picture reflects the events of her early years. In a way, she played herself. But Tashkov’s film is bright and joyful, which can’t be said about the biography of actress Ekaterina Savina.
Mother sold the last potato, and with the money she bought, she bought blue chintz and sewed her daughter a modest dress with a collar. Katya was escorted by the whole village. She never returned to Yeltsovka.
Monologue by Anna Karenina
Like Frosy Burlakova, Ekaterina Savina was late for entrance exams at VGIK. But she didn’t give up. Entered the Land Management Institute, in parallel - on acting courses.
A well-known teacher at that time Vasily Vanin did not make out a future star in a young Siberian and expelled her for unsuitability. For Catherine, this was the first blow to pride, which she, however, withstood with dignity. The following year, she again applied to the Institute of Cinematography.
Before the selection committee, an applicant appeared in the same simple chintz dress. When asked about what she would read, Catherine replied to Anna Karenina’s Monologue. The teachers barely held back a laugh. Which of the girls, the possessor of a rustic and not at all aristocratic appearance, is a countess?
A few minutes passed, and the teachers were no longer laughing. Before them stood a woman, lost, suffering from guilt, ready to step into the abyss ...
Catherine Savina was accepted to VGIK. After 14 years, she, in deep despair, remembered the experiences of the heroine of Tolstoy. And then, like Anna Karenina, she decided that she had only one way out. She wrote a farewell letter to her family, went to the railway station and threw herself under the train.
Boris Bibikov
Ekaterina Savina got on the course of Bibikov and Pyzhova. Unlike Vanin, they were able to discern her talent. Teachers often set Catherine as an example to their other students. And it was Boris Bibikov who played in the film "Come Tomorrow" by the professor, mentor Burlakova, who called his student "a slumbering girl."
Then, in the late forties, the teacher had no doubt that Savina had a brilliant acting career ahead. Her talent was multifaceted. Bibikov, being a demanding person not only to others, but also to himself, repeatedly said: “In my whole life I have brought up only two great actresses - Maya Bulgakova and Ekaterina Savina.”
Evgeny Tashkov
It is impossible not to tell about this man, setting out the basic facts from the biography of Ekaterina Savina. The cause of the death of the actress in 1970 shocked the Soviet audience. After all, no one knew that Savina, who created the image of a cheerful, naive girl on the screen, was not happy in life. Guilty of her misfortune was by no means Tashkov.
He was born in the same year as Savina, only not in the Altai Territory, but in the Volgograd Region. After graduation, he came to Moscow and entered VGIK.
In the thesis, Catherine Savina played an age role so talented that she was invited to the Moscow Art Theater. And she refused, saying: "Take the whole course."
Savina was considered strange. They do not refuse such offers, actresses dream of playing on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. But Catherine, firstly, was sure that she could only realize herself in the cinema. Secondly, she did not want to go to the Moscow Art Theater, because her classmate Zhenya Tashkova was not accepted there.
He never considered her strange. He appreciated her talent and understood, like no one else.
Evgeny Tashkov graduated from the acting department, but only a few years after graduation he made his debut as a director. His main dream was to make a film with Ekaterina Savina in the title role. This dream came true in 1963.
They got married shortly after graduating from college. Everything turned out great: a caring husband, a favorite job.
Debut
As early as 1949, Savina played in the film "Kuban Cossacks." The director of the picture is the famous Ivan Pyryev. One could only dream of a debut in the film of an outstanding filmmaker. But it was this man who put an end to Savina’s acting career.
Curse of Pyryev
The director was a six-time winner of the Stalin Prize, the founder of the Union of Cinematographers. The fate of many artists depended on Pyryev, and, taking advantage of his position, crippled more than one fate.
On the set of the film "Kuban Cossacks", the director liked the young debutante Katya Savina. Once he made an appointment with her. The actress, being a simple-minded person, decided that there was a rehearsal for the next scene. However, she was mistaken. And when she realized what the venerable director wants from her, she gave him a slap in the face.
Pyryev had his own "black list", which included the names of actresses who dared to refuse him. Refusing him, they were thrown out of the cinema for many years. But then, in 1949, Savina did not know anything about this. She could not even think that the Pyrevsky curse would follow her for more than ten years.
Ekaterina Savina, who got into the ill-fated list, was not invited to the cinema. Several times, directors offered her roles, but then, under the pressure of Pyryev, they were forced to refuse. So, Chukhrai wanted to remove Ekaterina Savina in the film “Forty-first”. But he was forced to invite Izold Izvitskaya.
Films
She was one of the most talented actresses of the fifties, but did not play any major role during this period. However, even when Savina appeared on the screen for just a few minutes, she was remembered by the audience.
Pictures with her participation: "Country Doctor", "In the Steppe", "Chuk and Huck", "Big Family", "The Mysterious Find", "Partisan Children", "Big Family", "Honeymoon".
The main role Catherine Savina was waiting for a long fourteen years.
Singer
Anyone who watched the movie “Come Tomorrow” knows that actress Ekaterina Savina had extraordinary vocal abilities. The range of her voice was three and a half octaves.
Upon learning that she was not being shot in films by the will of Ivan Pyryev, the actress became depressed. Only work could save her. Savina entered the Gnesins Institute. Her vocals distracted her from sorrowful thoughts. But when the actress was offered to give concerts in the country, she again refused. She still cherished the dream of cinema.
Disease
The shooting of one of the films with the participation of Ekaterina Savina took place in the Crimea. The actress, accustomed to rural food, went to the market every morning, where she bought fresh cow's milk. This milk killed her.
By the end of the fifties, in the behavior of the actress, colleagues began to observe strange things that could no longer be attributed to character traits. Many believed that Savina was drinking. But she was indifferent to alcohol. It's all about brucellosis, which she contracted by drinking milk.
Symptoms of this disease resemble those of schizophrenia. Doctors for a long time could not diagnose the actress. It took several years. And when the cause of the ailment was established, they could not help. The then doctors did not know how to treat brucellosis. Savina was prescribed medications that only worsened her well-being.
Every three months, the actress underwent a course of treatment that did not bring any benefit. She increasingly heard voices, and her memory worsened every day. Savina could leave the house and the abyss. A few days later, her husband found her in one of the cities near Moscow. How she ended up there, the actress could not explain.
Sick people bypass. Savinova saw that her colleagues were shunning. But it was especially hard for her from the thought that she was interfering with loved ones. She suspected that her husband had found another. She understood that she could not raise her son. Catherine Savina was approaching the abyss.
"Come back tomorrow"
Evgeny Tashkov hardly managed to get permission to shoot this picture. But it was during this period that the actress's disease worsened. Filming had to be postponed for a year.
Looking at the cheerful, naive girl Frosy Burlakova, it is difficult to believe that her seriously ill 34-year-old woman played. This role became the main one for the actress, and she put her last strength into it.
In 1963, posters across the country were decorated with photos of Ekaterina Savina. She became a celebrity. However, after the release of the iconic picture, the actress played in the cinema only one bright role - the role of the cook Matryona in “The Marriage of Balzaminov”.
Death
In April 1970, Ekaterina Savina left for relatives in Novosibirsk. There she was freed from the mental suffering that tormented her for more than ten years.
She left her relatives a farewell letter, which ended like this: "If you knew what was ahead of me, you would forgive me." The last words were addressed to the son of actress Ekaterina Savina - Andrei Tashkov. The actress died on April 25, 1970.