Actress Victoria Ostrovskaya: biography, personal life

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

Back in 1968, actress Viktoria Ostrovskaya appeared in a tiny episode in Leonid Gaidai's comedy "The Diamond Hand", but the bright character of a priestess of love from Istanbul brought her fame for many decades.

Zigel, zigel, ai-lu-lu

The phrase “Zigel, zigel, ai-lu-lu” associated with her instantly became winged and brought Victoria popularity and recognition for many years. Few people now remember that, in general, these words were first uttered by a smuggler in a pharmacy, where they put a cast on his hand, and they were followed by the sentence: “Mikhail Svetlov to-to”. The phrase is firmly connected in the minds of viewers with the episode in the alley.

The phrase "Zigel, zigel, ai-lu-lu" can still be heard quite often from the lips of both representatives of the younger generation, born decades after the release of the film, and older people.

It seemed that the future of the actress after the release and national recognition of the comedy was predetermined, new roles and shootings were provided for her for many years to come. But the course of life and its surprises cannot be predicted. The biography of Victoria Ostrovskaya is full of dramatic events.

Vicky Ostrovskaya's childhood

Victoria Ostrovskaya was born on September 1, 1938 in Kyiv. From childhood, the child grew up in a creative atmosphere, which could not but leave an imprint on the formation of the views, interests and character of the girl. Vika's father was repressed, Vika's stepfather, David Semenovich Volsky, who raised her, was a famous artist, in the pre-war years he headed the Kyiv circus, then the Drama Theater. I. Franko. The house was often visited by people who were idolized by the whole country - Leonid Utyosov, Emil Kio, Irina Bugrimova. Such receptions were held at home, without pomp and shocking. Vika loved these receptions, which were always attended by a lot of people, heated discussions were held, interesting topics were discussed. The child literally absorbed all the incoming information, often successfully copied adults.

The girl had another passion - ballet. Victoria's mother, who studied ballet in her youth, enrolled her in a choreography school. The girl attended classes with pleasure until an accident happened to her in the 4th grade - while riding on the railing, she fell down from a height of about the second floor and hit her head on the bricks laid around the flower bed. As a result - a concussion and a doctor's ban on dancing. In this regard, the further life path was open only to the acting profession.

Education

After graduating from school, Victoria entered the Kyiv Theater Institute at the acting department. The course was taught by People's Artist P. T. Sergienko. The future actress Victoria Ostrovskaya studied on the same course with Ada Rogovtseva. Teachers noted Victoria's abilities.

But she failed to graduate from the institute. In the fourth, last, course, Victoria Ostrovskaya was expelled from the institute. The official wording was "for political reasons."

The girl was accused of promoting the lifestyle of the decaying West. At the Komsomol meeting on the analysis of Victoria's behavior, the secretary of the Komsomol mentioned in his report not only the defiant appearance of Victoria herself, but also added the phrase that she adopted wearing short skirts and bright makeup from her mother, a dissolute person. This Vika could not bear, she furiously grabbed the speaker.

Ostrovskaya was expelled from the institute for a year and, of course, from the Komsomol.

Trip to the capital

After being expelled, Victoria decided to completely change her life. Ostrovskaya was sent "to be imbued with the ideology of the working class" in Moscow, where she worked as a mechanic for measuring instruments at the Beskudnikovsky ceramic factory. Even earlier, Victoria managed to marry a Muscovite, Igor Ulchitsky. Having met a girl on vacation in Odessa, he proposed to her during his internship in Kyiv.

Return to Kyiv, second marriage

After a year of working at the factory, Victoria returned to Kyiv, where she was reinstated at the institute and in the Komsomol. The husband stayed in Moscow. Three or four years after her marriage, Victoria meets the famous writer and journalist Roman Raygorodetsky. New love captures the actress with all her might, she files a divorce fromfirst husband and marries Raygorodetsky.

After receiving an education, Victoria Ostrovskaya was sent to the Syzran Drama Theater for distribution. Roman got a job at a newspaper. A year later, Victoria became pregnant. That year was very difficult for the actress. In addition to poverty and hunger in the city, a crisis in relations has ripened in the family. Ostrovskaya went to Kyiv to have an abortion, she was not going to return to Syzran. But she succumbed to her husband's repentance and promises, believing him.

Life and work in Dnepropetrovsk

Joint life was difficult, the couple often quarreled, sometimes it came literally to fights. They broke up and got back together. Roman was invited to work on the Kuibyshev television, Victoria followed. After one of the quarrels, she went to Dnepropetrovsk, where she was invited to work at the Russian Drama Theater. Upon learning that his wife was pregnant, Raigorodetsky went to Dnepropetrovsk to pick her up. But nothing came of it. Victoria stayed in Dnepropetrovsk, while Roman left for Kamchatka.

Escape from Kamchatka

Things in Dnepropetrovsk went pretty well with the actress. She went to give birth in Kyiv. Ostrovskaya gave birth to a son, Cyril, at the age of 23. At the same time, Vika's mother fell seriously ill. When the mother was discharged from the hospital, Ostrovskaya went with the baby to Kamchatka to her husband.

But family life is not getting better, on the contrary, the crisis is becoming more tangible. The husband begins to abuse alcohol and, in a drunken state, beat the woman. Once Victoria breaks down and opens herselfveins. Thank God, everything worked out. But it was impossible to live like this any longer, and Ostrovskaya decides to run away from her husband, telling him that she will fly with the child to Kyiv for a short time to her mother. Boarding the plane, she shows her husband the famous Russian gesture through the window, which means breaking off relations forever.

A few years later, Raygorodtsev, being married again, found Victoria. But it was not possible to resurrect the old feelings. Raygorodtsev died in America from cancer.

And back to Moscow

Ostrovskaya first returned to Dnepropetrovsk, to the theater, but after a quarrel with the director, she left for Moscow, where her mother already lived. She married there for the third time, but the marriage was short-lived: her husband, slipping on an icy step, fell and crashed.

Actress Victoria Ostrovskaya could not get a job in the theater, despite offers and interviews. I needed money to feed my family and take care of my mother, who again had he alth problems. Having given up on her acting career, Victoria gets a job as a dispatcher at a car depot. At the motor depot, Ostrovskaya was respected by ordinary hardworking drivers, they loved her for her fighting character, appreciated and respected her. Once, when they wanted to fire Victoria (“Madeleine”, as the workers called her) for being rude, the drivers stood up for their favorite, defended her, forcing the authorities to ask Victoria for forgiveness.

Highest hour

But, as you know, you can't run away from fate. At that time, the shooting of "The Diamond Hand" began, and Gaidai was looking for an actress for the roleprostitutes. Once an assistant director approached Ostrovskaya on the street, asking if she was an actress. Victoria answered in the affirmative. Having looked at Ostrovskaya's photo tests, Gaidai immediately gave her the role, without a single screen test. Victoria goes to Baku, where all foreign scenes were filmed at that time, to play an episodic, but her most striking role in life.

Almost immediately, she starred in the sequel to "Carnival Night" - in the film "Old Friend" (episode with a woman in the shower).

However, this role went unnoticed.

Having taken part in the filming of two films, Victoria Ostrovskaya sincerely hoped that recognition and long-awaited success would now come, even at the age of 30. Vika leaves the car depot. But…

Failure and return to life

She could not sit and wait for a suitable role or offer: she had to feed and support her family. Victoria Grigorievna gets a job at the Lenin Library, in the arts sector, where she has worked for 30 years.

Her salary in those years was 80 rubles, there was no way to raise a child with this money. Victoria moonlighted wherever she could, even cleaned in private apartments. She held on with all her might, but still there was a breakdown.

Career failures, a sick mother, a small child - too much has fallen on the shoulders of a woman. For 2 weeks she lost 13 kg, tears flowed like a river, thoughts of suicide visited. The mother, unable to stand it, called her daughter an ambulance. The help of a neurologist was required. Familiaradvised Ostrovskaya to go to the clinic of neuroses and psychotherapy in Leningrad. After spending three months in Bekhterevka, having undergone a course of treatment with tranquilizers, Victoria left the hospital a completely different person.

The personal life of Victoria Ostrovskaya did not work out. She did not officially marry. There was no time for husbands: grandchildren, a cat, dogs. Victoria always tried to help everyone, never complained about her fate and failure in the cinema: it means that God wants it that way.

Another tragedy and recovery

Life went on as usual, and suddenly trouble happened again. Ostrovskaya unexpectedly came down with a vertebral hernia. No treatment helped, she could not get up, she needed surgery. But Victoria refused. According to her, her conscience did not allow: there was no one to look after her dogs, which she picked up on the street.

By chance, on the radio, Ostrovskaya heard a program about a doctor and his system, which puts even hopeless patients on their feet. Victoria decided that this was her chance. So she got to the Kinesitherapy Center and began to practice. Ostrovskaya Victoria Grigorievna not only defeated her illness, but also remained to teach gymnastics for people with back pain at the center. This became her true calling.

She has helped many people. Until now, letters of gratitude are written to her, which mean much more to actress Victoria Ostrovskaya than film prizes and awards, which, unfortunately, she never received.

Todayshe is already 79 years old, but she not only does gymnastics herself, but also conducts classes, helping others. An incorrigible optimist and "cheerful rickets" (in her own words), Ostrovskaya is still full of energy, still does not avoid strong words and expressions in life and work.

One can only wish he alth and long life to Victoria Ostrovskaya. The fate of the actress is an example of courage, which in our time is so lacking.