Larisa Malevannaya, actress and theater director: biography, personal life, filmography

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

In 2019, People's Artist of the RSFSR Larisa Ivanovna Malevannaya will celebrate her eightieth birthday. The wonderful Russian theater and film actress went through a difficult childhood and youth, but adversity did not break the character of this amazing woman.

Biography of Larisa Malevannaya: childhood

Back in 1939, in the middle of winter, on January 22, in the village of Fedorovka, Rostov Region, a girl named Larisa was born. Family life was not easy, and soon the war began. Larisa, along with her two sisters and brother, had to survive. After the war, the head of the family became addicted to drinking and began to raise his hand against the children. Larisa grew up as a sickly and weak child.

In 1952 the family moved to Krasnodar. Larisa's mother was a teacher, she had to work very hard, and at 43 the unfortunate woman died. In Krasnodar, clever Larisa took up sports, enrolled in the basketball section and practiced there with zeal. She recalls how gradually her dream of becoming strong, agile and fast came true with every workout. In the same place, in Krasnodar, the girl attended a theater group, wherethe vocation of the future actress was gradually formed.

Dream of becoming an actress

At school, Larisa Malevannaya studied remarkably, was a diligent student and preferred literature and the Russian language from school subjects. The girl dreamed of becoming an actress, but those around her told her that such external data was not enough to get on stage. Girlfriends called Larisa ugly, and even her grandmother advised her to quit acting, considering her youngest granddaughter, Angelina, to be much more pretty. After leaving school, Larisa heeded the advice of others and chose the Krasnodar Pedagogical Institute for admission. The girl studied well at the Faculty of History and Philology, but in her last year she decided to take the documents, realizing that this was not her calling.

Admission to college

Despite the protests of her relatives, Larisa Ivanovna arrives in Leningrad. She was already 21 years old, and she was worried that the competition for the coveted university would not pass by age. But fate turned out to be favorable to the talented girl, and on the first attempt she entered the Leningrad State Institute of Theater, Music and Cinematography. Larisa was enrolled in the directing department, on the course of Alexander Musil. Acting skills Larisa Malevannaya was taught by Arkady Katsman. While studying at the institute, the girl met her future husband, director Gennady Oporkov. In 1965, Malevannaya graduated with honors and almost immediately tied the knot with Gennady.

Work in the theater

Actressinvited to the troupe of the theater named after Komissarzhevskaya, but the newlyweds had other plans, and they moved to Krasnoyarsk. Larisa and Gennady were promised employment in the new theatre, housing and creative freedom. In reality, everything turned out to be completely different, and as a result, after almost four years of work at the Krasnoyarsk Theater for Young Spectators, in 1968, the family moved to Leningrad.

Gennady got a job as a director at the Leningrad Lenin Komsomol Theater, and Larisa rejected the invitation of Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov, and instead of the Bolshoi Drama Theater chose Lenkom to be with her husband. Among the theatrical works of this period are the main roles performed by the actress in such performances as "The Passenger" and "Do not part with your loved ones." Malevannaya was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Personal life of Larisa Malevannaya

In 1970, the first-born son Alexander appeared in the family of Larisa and Gennady. But family relationships began to deteriorate. Being the main director of Lenkom, Gennady Oporkov began to receive a lot of unequivocal attention from young actresses. When Larisa realized that the situation was out of control, she decided to leave. The couple divorced in 1976.

Further theater career

Larisa Malevannaya finally accepted Tovstonogov's offer and began working on the stage of the Bolshoi Drama Theatre. Here the actress plays prominent and vivid roles: Varvara Mikhailovna in Gorky's "Summer Residents", Natalya in Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" and others. Thanks also to the extraordinaryMalevannaya's talent, these productions became successful for several seasons in a row. In the BDT, Larisa also tries her hand at directing, and soon her production of “Daughter” based on the play by Valentin Krymko appeared on the stage, and her play “Bengal Lights” based on Averchenko was on the small stage of the theater. Within the walls of the Bolshoi Drama Theater, Larisa met her second husband. The marriage was strong and lasted 20 years, and the new husband accepted Larisa's son Sasha as his own.

Actress in cinema

In the same period, Larisa begins acting in film and television projects. In the first film "On the Wedding Day" in 1968, she was assigned the main role of Nyura Salova. In the film by Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov "The Legend of Til", Malevannaya played the role of Sootkin, and the image of Vera Ivanovna in the film "Late Dates" became a truly stellar role for the actress. This was already the 20th film by Larisa Malevannaya. To this day, the role of Sofya Andreevna in the historical drama "The Teenager" based on Dostoevsky is considered the standard of Larisa's acting skills.

Opening your own theater

In 1984, Larisa Ivanovna returns to the institute, which she herself graduated from. She works as an assistant professor at the Department of Acting. In 1985, Larisa Ivanovna Malevannaya received the honorary title - People's Artist of the RSFSR. And four years later, she releases her own acting course. Malevannaya developed such a warm relationship with the students that when they offered to organize their own theater, she could not refuse them. So Larisa Ivanovna became the head of the Dramatheater on Vasilyevsky Island and worked here for five years.

Movie roles

Huge fame came to the actress after the release of Todorovsky's film "Intergirl". In the film, Larisa Malevannaya played the role of a teacher - the mother of a prostitute Tanya. Participation Malevannaya in the filming of this film was perceived ambiguously. In addition to the enthusiasm, the actress also had to endure hard-hitting, rude comments. Despite the fact that the role played by Larisa Ivanovna was positive, many viewers condemned her. The actress admits that participation in this movie helped her to reconsider her own views on life and become more tolerant of people.

In 1999, Larisa Ivanovna became the winner of the Petropol Art Prize for her achievements in art and culture. In this film, Malevannaya skillfully played the tragic role of an abandoned general's wife. Then, after an almost ten-year break, Larisa Ivanovna flashed a bright role in the series "Black Raven". In 2003, Vladimir Bortko appeared in the serial TV movie based on Dostoevsky's "Idiot" by Vladimir Bortko in the role of Nina Alexandrovna. In the 2000s, Malevannaya came to St. Petersburg to accept the offer of Larisa Gergieva and teach acting at the Academy of Young Singers. In the same period, the artist was awarded the Pushkin medal, and also became the winner of the Tsarskoye Selo Art Prize.

Theatrical life of an actress

In 2007, the famous actress and director Larisa Malevannaya leaves the BDT. By this time, a kind of stagnation had been going on in the theatrical life of Malevannaya for several years - no roles were given, and the actress had already given this theater for more than thirty years. After parting with the Bolshoi Drama Theater, Larisa Ivanovna left for Krasnoyarsk in order to brilliantly and with pleasure play Strange Mrs. Savage at the local Youth Theater. And a year later, the artist is invited to the Krasnodar Municipal Youth Theater. On the stage of this theater, Malevannaya staged such performances as "The Doll" based on the work of Arkady Averchenko "The Patron's Joke", as well as "Eternal Husband" by Dostoevsky and "Freaks" by Shukshin. The production of "Dolly" was awarded the first prize at the prestigious festival "Kuban Theatrical".

Actress now

Currently, Larisa Ivanovna continues to act in films. She discovered her writing talent and published two autobiographical books: The Sandbox and The Pea in the Box. In 2014, another book by Malevannaya was published - "Peace, make peace, don't fight anymore." The artist also writes talented scripts.

Actress' family

Larisa Malevannaya treats her family with great trepidation. She is a wonderful mother, a wonderful grandmother of two grandchildren and a granddaughter. And recently Larisa became a great-grandmother, and now she has two great-grandchildren. She talks warmly about her grandchildren, loves to spend time with them and is very proud of them. The whole family spends the summer together in the country. Larisa Ivanovna warmly speaks about her daughter-in-law -Oksana. Of the whole family, Oksana most often visits the theater.