Larisa Luzhina: biography, filmography, photos and personal life

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Popular and loved by millions of viewers, the Soviet and Russian actress, who for decades has been pleasing not only her compatriots, but also viewers outside our country with her work, is Larisa Luzhina.

Childhood

Larisa was born in Leningrad on March 4, 1939. Two years later, the bloodiest war in the history of mankind began. Father - Anatoly Ivanovich, a sea navigator, left to defend his country, and Larisa with her mother, grandmother and older sister Lyusya remained in Leningrad.

Blockade

The Luzhin family survived the terrible blockade of Leningrad. During this time, the elder sister died, the wounded father died of starvation, the grandmother could not stand the terrible trials. Only after the blockade was lifted, little Larisa Luzhina and her mother were evacuated to the Kemerovo region.

First performances

In Kuzbass, Larisa's mother went to work at a meat-packing plant. The girl had her first public performance here. At the New Year's holiday, she read to the workers of the plant "Confession of a tanker" -poem by Tvardovsky. As Larisa Luzhina herself recalls, her performance brought tears to the women, and the director took her in her arms, kissed her, and then “rewarded” with an unusually tasty cutlet, the smell of which she still remembers.

Tallinn

After returning to Leningrad, it turned out that their apartment was occupied, Larisa and her mother had to move to Tallinn, where Luzhina spent her childhood. They were sheltered by a distant relative in a tiny six-meter room.

Drama club

The girl from an early age was attracted by creativity, she liked to participate in performances, sing songs, recite poems at concerts. At school, Larisa immediately enrolled in a drama club. It was directed by the artist of the drama theater I. D. Rossomahin. The guys who were destined to become famous actors were engaged in this circle - Vitaly Konyaev, Igor Yasulovich, Vladimir Korenev. The performances of the amateur troupe were shown not only on the school stage, but also on the professional stage. During this period of time, she began to dream of becoming an actress.

Failed attempt

The biography of Larisa Luzhina is inextricably linked with theater and cinema. After graduating from ten classes, the future actress went to Leningrad to enter a theater university. At the entrance exam, she was asked to sing a song. The worried applicant “failed” the test. According to Luzhina Larisa Anatolyevna herself, at that moment she simply did not have enough perseverance. She did not consider herself a person who achieves a goal at any cost. She was sure that if she was told:"You don't fit" means it's not worth trying.

Podium work

So, the failed actress Larisa Luzhina returned to Tallinn. She first got a job at a pharmaceutical factory, and soon she moved to work at the Kalev confectionery factory. Day after day, she breathed powdered sugar and packed marshmallows in boxes (she hasn't eaten them since). Naturally, such work for a girl who dreamed of a stage was just a way of survival, she did not bring moral satisfaction. Once Larisa Luzhina, whose photo you see in this article, accidentally saw an advertisement in a newspaper about the opening of the Tallinn House of Models. Of course, the podium can hardly be compared with the stage, but at that time it seemed to Larisa a worthy alternative. The biography of Larisa Luzhina has changed dramatically. A girl with a height of 172 centimeters and a slender figure was quite suitable for the Model House.

Larisa and her mother lived very poorly. The girl did not have an extra dress, not to mention some expensive toilets. Therefore, when she went to the podium in fashionable and beautiful outfits, she felt like a fabulous Cinderella at the ball. And Larisa was also called the "smiling fashion model." Unlike her colleagues, who went out into the public with some kind of detached face, Luzhina smiled. For this, she was always very warmly received and awarded with a flurry of applause.

Dreams come true

Going out on the podium, the girl imagined that she was an actress. Larisa Luzhina just raved about the stage, and one daya miracle happened. She was invited to the Tallinnfilm film studio to play the tiny role of a singer in a night cabaret. The film was called Uninvited Guests (1959). A few months later, the director of this tape moved to England for permanent residence, and the film was banned. But probably the actress Larisa Luzhina, whose biography was now unthinkable outside the cinema, was born under a lucky star. On the set of the film, she met an intern from VGIK, who showed a photo of Luzhina to S. A. Gerasimova. From that moment on, Larisa considered the intern Leyda Laius to be her godmother.

Sergey Appolinarievich agreed to see the girl. To do this, you just had to come to Moscow. But the problem was that Larisa and her mother had no money for this trip. As often happens, chance intervened in this situation. Quite unexpectedly, Luzhin was invited to audition for the film The World to the Incoming, while Mosfilm paid for the travel and the hotel. Thus, Larisa managed to get acquainted with Gerasimov. After the aspiring actress read Larisa's monologue from The Dowry to the great director, her future fate was decided - she was accepted into Gerasimov's studio without exams.

Since 1959, Larisa Luzhina has been a student at VGIK. The course was very strong. Nikolai Gubenko, Zhanna Bolotova, Galina Polskikh, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Evgeny Zharikov studied with our heroine.

First steps in cinema

Many people close to cinema know that Gerasimov was very fond of filming his students. Those who for some reason did not suit him, he recommended to other talented directors. ToUnfortunately, Larisa Luzhina was not his actress.

From the first year, they have already begun to shoot her in films. It was the main role of Lyuba in the film story "Man Does Not Give Up" (1960), the gardener in "Man Follows the Sun" (1961). But the biggest success was the work in the film "On the Seven Winds" (1962) by Rostotsky and Galich. Gerasimov recommended her for the role of Svetlana Ivashova.

It should be said that the actress Larisa Luzhina, whose biography consists of constant experiments, recalls that work in this film was not easy. At first, she did nothing at all. It got to the point that Rostotsky was simply afraid that the actress would not cope with the role. He showed Gerasimov all the footage and asked to replace Luzhin. Gerasimov was an excellent psychologist, he was well aware that this refusal could kill Larisa as an actress. And he also believed very much in his talented student, so he advised the director to pay more attention to her. Heeding the advice of his great teacher, Rostotsky began to work hard with the young actress. He even tried to dye her blonde to match the image of Svetlana Ivashova.

Fame

After the premiere of the film "On the Seven Winds" Larisa woke up famous. The film was sent to the Cannes Film Festival, where a delegation of Russian cinema headed by Gerasimov, Rostotsky, Kulidzhanov, Raizman went. The actors were represented by young Inna Gulaya and Larisa Luzhina. It was necessary to somehow solve the issue with the outfits. As a sign of respect, TallinnThe model house sent Larisa two luxurious evening dresses, in which the actress shone in Cannes.

A situation occurred at the festival, due to which Larisa Luzhina, whose biography is full of surprises, could say goodbye to her future career. At the evening reception, Larisa was invited to dance the twist. In those days, this dance in the USSR was considered unprincipled, and even obscene. VGIK students, including Larisa, perfectly mastered it and famously danced it at their parties. But to dance the twist at the reception, and even abroad? The actress was reassured by Gerasimov, who said that his student should be able to do everything.

Returning to her homeland, Luzhin was summoned to Furtseva (Minister of Culture). In anger, she struck out the "guilty" actress from further trips. And again Gerasimov came to the rescue. He came to an appointment with Furtseva and said that Larisa was his student and it was he who allowed her to dance. After that, Luzhina visited the festival in Karlovy Vary, Sweden, Iran, Poland.

Working in Germany

After the picture "On the Seven Winds" films with the participation of Larisa Luzhina, the audience was looking forward to. At this time, the German director Joachim Hübner invited her to appear in his five-part film Dr. Schlütter (1964-1966) in two roles at once - mother and daughter. Filming lasted two years.

It was a difficult time for Larisa. Arriving in a foreign country, she knew only two words in German, so at first she simply memorized the text, much later she began to understand what she was talking about. But these were not all the problems that arose before the actress - she needed to be naked in the frame. She had to star in the same swimming trunks - an unthinkable episode for Soviet cinema! The director managed to persuade her by removing everyone from the set except the cameraman and himself.

Meet Vysotsky

After returning from Germany, the actress was waiting for a real gift of fate. She was invited to star in his picture Stanislav Govorukhin. We are talking about the film "Vertical" (1966), where Luzhina had to work with the legendary Vladimir Vysotsky. His approval for this role was very difficult. The artistic council of the Odessa Film Studio categorically objected to his candidacy. It was approved only after Govorukhin swore an oath that Vysotsky would not sing in the film. He did not keep his word, because at that moment there would hardly have been a person who could keep Vladimir, fascinated by the mountains.

The famous bard wrote some great songs that instantly spread across the country.

Larisa Luzhina quickly became friends with Vysotsky. They developed a very warm relationship, but they were only friendly. Vladimir Semenovich dedicated the song "She was in Paris" to his new girlfriend.

Larisa Luzhina: personal life

Larisa experienced her first love at the age of sixteen. The guy's name was Pavel, he studied at the Tallinn Nautical School. The guys met, went to dances. After graduating from college, Pavel left for his native Irkutsk. Leaving, he presented Luzhina with a guitar and promised to write. And later the girl found out that a bride was waiting for Pavel in Irkutsk, whom he soon married.

In the cinema, Larisa Anatolyevna was very lucky with partners -Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Vladimir Vysotsky, Igor Ledogorov. According to the scripts, she was in love with all of them. However, in life she liked completely different men.

Larisa Luzhina, whose husbands are creative people, tried four times to start a family. The first spouse was Alexei Chardynin (operator of the films "Journalist", "Do not set traps for the goblin", "Ivan da Marya"). Larisa met him in her second year at VGIK. A handsome, tall and very talented young man won the girl's heart almost instantly. But the young people lived only seven years - the marriage could not stand the separation, Larisa's constant travels.

Larisa's second husband is Valery Shuvalov (cameraman in the films "12 Chairs", "Magician", "Intergirl", etc.). To the great joy of the actress, a son, Pavel, was born in this marriage. The family broke up when the boy was seven years old.

The third time the union also did not work out. Unlike the first two marriages, the husband initiated the divorce, and this was a tragedy for Larisa Anatolyevna. We can say that the personal life of the actress did not work out. It did not work out with the fourth husband of the family either. But at the same time, Larisa Anatolyevna considers herself a happy woman. She has an adult and successful son, a good, caring daughter-in-law, two of the best grandchildren. The son is an excellent recording engineer at the Mosfilm film studio.

1966-1986

After the success in the film "Vertical" Luzhin was filmed a lot by the most famous directors of the country. The images she created are lyrical, feminine, very charming, but at the same time courageous and strong. most popularher works were roles in the films "The Main Witness" (1969), "Racers", "Gold" (1969), "Nastenka" (1973) and others.

Restructuring

In this difficult period for the whole country, Luzhina's life changed. She began to be filmed a little in films, the Film Actor Theater was closed. However, Larisa Anatolyevna managed to survive this period a little easier than many of her colleagues. Having borrowed some money from a friend, she staged "Theatrical Anecdote" - a performance with which she toured the country a lot. It was not possible to earn big money, but it was enough to live on.

It was disappointing that things were really bad in the movies. There were almost no films made, and those that were released were of very poor quality.

New Age

The situation began to stabilize after the year 2000. The first serious work after a long stagnation was the painting "Secrets of Palace Revolutions" (2001-2003) by Svetlana Druzhinina, the role of Praskovya Dolgorukova. This is the first real costume role in her career as an actress.

Then it was time for the series - "Junkers" (2007), "There is no escape from love" (2003), "Hunting for deer" (2005). In 2006, the premiere of the series "Love as Love" by V. Krasnopolsky took place. In this tape, Larisa Luzhina and Sergey Nikonenko became the favorites of the audience. Severe critics noted the amazing authenticity of the images they created.

Larisa Luzhina, whose films are very loved by the audience, still works at the Film Actor Theater. She plays in the play "Exactly at seven" and also participates in entreprises. Often viewers ask how old Larisa Luzhina is. Passport ageactress doesn't matter. Everyone who was lucky enough to talk with her falls under the spell of this self-confident, very beautiful woman. At the same time, she is completely devoid of "stardom". She is always sincere and attentive to the interlocutor.