More than a decade has passed since the death of actress Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya, but she is still not forgotten by the audience. The actress was mainly immortalized by the roles of screen mothers of well-known and beloved characters - Yuri Detochkin and Zhenya Lukashin, heroes of the legendary films Eldar Ryazanov “Watch out for the car” and “Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath”, respectively. The plight of the talented actress of theater and cinema, her career and personal life is described in this article.
Mysterious age
The biography of Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya originates in Ukrainian Kiev, at the end of the era when the entire Russian state was called the empire. The future actress was born on December 24, 1905 (Capricorn is the sign of the zodiac).
Some sources claim that the artist was born in 1908. This is not just confusion. Indeed, throughout the life of Dobrzhanska, it was precisely 1908 that was officially considered the year of her birth. At a certain point, the actress deliberately reduced her age by three years and adhered to this version until the very end. The truth about this was known exclusively to her relatives.
In 1975, when Dobrzhanska turns 70, she will meet her anniversary more than modestly, adhering to the legend that there are three more years to this date. However, all her life, the artist did not recognize the birthday holiday and never celebrated it. In this capacity, she performed on September 30 - the birthday of Faith, Hope, Love and Sophia.
By the way, that anniversary will be the last in the life of the actress. To 75 she will not live a little less than two months.
Father
Lyubov Ivanovna Dobrzhanskaya was a noblewoman by her origin. Her father was a prominent figure in the royal army. Ivan Andronikovich Dobrzhansky (years of life - 1879-1941) built an excellent military career, in particular:
- went from lieutenant to colonel;
- was a participant in two wars;
- He served in the border troops of the Russian Imperial Army;
- He was a gentleman of several of the most honorable orders of that time.
But, of course, with the advent of Soviet power, all of his services to the Fatherland became worthless. Shortly after the October events of 1917, in which the valiant Colonel Dobrzhansky did not take part, the head of the family was repressed and sent to exile.
Lyubov’s father spent five long years in the Solovetsky camp, and at the end of his term he was forced to become a shepherd and work in the steppes of Kazakhstan. He could not return home to his family ... In 1941, in August, Ivan Andronikovich died of a heart attack on Kazakh soil.
20 years after his death, when the well-known theater artist Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya will be on tour in Karaganda, she will take a car and go alone to Semipalatinsk in search of her father’s grave, but she will not find a trace.
The enchanting world of art
From an early age, the theater attracted a young noblewoman. She liked this mysterious magical world where you can transform into a variety of characters. In 1923, artistic Love entered the studio at the Kiev Second Ukrainian Lenin Theater (in 1926 it was renamed the Russian State Drama, now the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Russian Drama Theater).
The very next, 1924, Dobrzhanskaya graduated and was accepted into the troupe of the temple of art mentioned above. Here she served exactly 10 years, interrupted for only one year (1926-1927) to work in the then Dnepropetrovsk (the current name is the Dnieper).
The acting career of Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya immediately began successfully. For her first theatrical decade, which took place in Kiev, the artist performed more than a hundred roles. She shone in classical performances and in modern productions. Kiev theatergoers adored Dobrzhanskaya and called it a genius of acting. Moreover, both spectators and critics spoke enthusiastically about the talent of Love.
Moving to the capital
In 1934, the actress receives an invitation from the director of the Moscow Theater of the Soviet Army. And Dobrzhanska throws everything - and his native city, and glory, and loyal fans. The artist goes to the capital, into the unknown. The Kiev star is in the position of a novice actress in the theater, in a sparsely furnished dormitory room.
It is worth noting that the move was timely and saved Lyubov’s life. When the actress rushed to Moscow, her mother Olga Vasilievna remained in Kiev. With the advent of the war and the capture of the city by the Germans, she, like many other inhabitants, was captured and driven into Germany. Olga Vasilievna survived the camp and waited for the victorious release, but there was nothing to rejoice. Having barely managed to breathe the air of freedom, Lyubov’s mother was again imprisoned, along with others who did not die in German captivity.
Theater star
Soon after the move, the experienced artist began to shine on the Moscow stage. Initially, she was given inconspicuous, expressionless roles. The production of "The Taming of the Shrew", which went down in the history of the theater, Dobrzhanskaya accidentally hit. The director did not plan to put Love on the role of Katarina. But not a single actress could bring the leader's idea to life.
Two weeks remained before the appointed day of the premiere. The situation was hopeless. Deciding that there was nothing left to lose, the director appointed Dobrzhanskaya to the main role. With her appearance on the stage, the performance was literally breathed life. Those who were eyewitnesses of this called the incident a real miracle.
Dobrzhanskaya did not tell about her skill and subtleties of work. And was it possible to explain the talent with words? “The viewer himself will see everything,” is the only thing the actress said about her work.
Lyubov’s theater repertoire was truly huge. She played comic characters, and dramatic, and aristocrats, and peasant women, and English women, and Moldavians ... You can list for a very long time. Each of its roles, regardless of the particular character, Dobrzhanskaya made bright and memorable.
For more than four decades, she served in the Theater of the Soviet Army. A large half of this period, Dobrzhanskaya was a leading actress. In the theater they stage plays specially for her, knowing in advance that the participation of the artist is the key to the success of the performance. Even at the zenith of fame, Dobrzhanska does not refuse to embody episodic characters. In addition to the main duty station, she often went on stage at other theaters, accepting their invitations to play in various productions.
Kinomama
Many believe that the debut work of Lyubov in the movie was the tape "Watch out for the car." This is mistake. For the first time on the screen, Dobrzhanskaya appeared in 1952 in "Dance Teacher". Filming Ryazanov was the second for the actress. It is noteworthy that between the first and second films of Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya there was a break for more than ten years. The reason is the immense love of the theater.
After the release of Beware of the Car, “a good mom singing about a steam locomotive” was literally bombarded with shooting offers. But, imagining how long she would have to part with the theater, she always refused. There are not a dozen exceptions. In addition to the debut “Dance Teacher” and the cult “Watch Out for the Car” and “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath”, she starred in the films:
- "Adam and Hewa";
- "On Thursday and never again";
- "Two smiles";
- "Player";
- "From the notes of Lopatin";
- "Autumn Thunderstorms";
- "Literature lesson".
But nevertheless, the mothers of Yuri Detochkin and Zhenya Lukashin invariably remain the audience’s favorite works.
Childless widow
The personal life of Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya was no less intense than her career. But at the same time, it’s quite tragic, in contrast to successful work on stage and on set. The actress was destined to survive three of the four husbands.
Her first husband was Ivan Chervinsky - a talented theater actor from Kiev. But family happiness did not last long. A denunciation was written in Chervinsky, as a result of which the actor was arrested simultaneously with Colonel Dobrzhansky. So young Love lost both father and husband. Ivan was condemned for “conversations over the game of preference”. Unable to bear the hardships of imprisonment, the actor soon hung himself in a cell.
The second husband of Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya was the theater director Vladimir Nelli. He staged performances in Kiev with the participation of the actress, but her love for her husband quickly passed. Shortly before her fateful move to Moscow, the artist divorced her husband. Vladimir became the only of the four official husbands of Lyubov, with whom it was not death who parted her.
The third spouse of the actress was Osip Shahet. She met the charming charismatic actor after the break with Alexander Popov, the director of the Moscow Theater of the Soviet Army, where Dobrzhanskaya served most of her career. The hudruk was married and, choosing between family and passion, eventually preferred the former.
Shortly after these events, Love met Osip. Feeling captured the actress entirely. Marrying Shakhet, she was sure: this marriage is her happiness. Love dreamed of having children, but hopes were not destined to be realized. In the summer of 1949, leaving early in the morning to breathe air on the balcony of their apartment on Durov Street in Moscow, Osip died of a heart attack.
The fourth and last spouse of Dobrzhansky was the guitarist and actor of gypsy origin Victor Kruchinin. Their marriage lasted about two decades. In 1975, Victor died. He was five years ahead of his wife.
Dobrzhansky’s dreams of children did not come true for her whole life. She did not have the opportunity to become a "world mother" outside the screen.
Curtain
In 1977, the actress began to notice that her memory was fading. Dobrzhanskaya forgot the text. In 1978, she made the hardest decision in her life - to leave the theater. Forever. She retired. Life without a theater was a real torment. The mental suffering of the actress was aggravated by physical ones - Dobrzhanskaya broke her thigh neck.
Injury for the age of the artist was the most dangerous. This fracture caused the death of Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya. On November 3, 1980, a lonely actress died. She was 74 years old.
During her life she played in ten films and more than a hundred different performances, the number of exits to the stage exceeds one thousand. But, despite the huge difference in the number of works in the cinema and in the theater, current viewers know and love Lyubov Dobrzhanskaya precisely from films with her participation. Performances have been forgotten and gone down in history. And films continue to delight the audience and gain new fans. The actress will forever remain the screen "world mom."