East-German postcard by VEB Progress Filmvertrieb, Starfoto, no. 548. Photo: Sovexportfilm. Lyudmila Gurchenko in Karnavalnaya noch/Carnival Night (Eldar Ryazanov, 1956). The German title is Nun schlägt's 13!
Soviet-Russian postcard, 1984. Photo: Mosfilm. Lyudmila Gurchenko and Oleg Basilashvili in Vokzal dlya dvoikh/Station for Two (Eldar Ryazanov, 1982).
Her style deemed too western
Lyudmila Gurchenko was born Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenkov (Russian: Людмила Марковна Гурченко) in 1935 in Kharkiv, USSR (now Ukraine) in 1935 to Mark Gavrilovich Gurchenkov and Yelena Aleksandrovna Simonova-Gurchenkov. Her father came from a Russian peasant family, while her mother was from the Russian nobility - both from around Smolensk.
Before World War II the family lived in a single-room apartment on the ground floor at Mordvinovsky Lane No. 17 (now Gurchenko Lane #7). At that time, her parents worked at the Kharkiv Philharmonic Society. Mark Gurchenko was known to play the bayan (Russian accordion).
Gurchenko spent a part of her childhood with her mom during the time of the German occupation of the USSR in her native city, while her father joined the army and, together with his concert brigade, survived the war. After the withdrawal of the German Army from Kharkiv, Gurchenko auditioned for the local Beethoven Music School, where she performed the song 'About Vitya Cherevichkin' with gestures, after which she was accepted as an acting student.
She moved to Moscow, enrolling in the VGIK (Soviet State Institute for Cinema), graduating from the class of Sergey Gerasimov in 1956. At age 21, she delivered a stellar performance as singer Lenochka Krylova in Eldar Ryazanov's directorial debut, the musical Karnavalnaya noch/Carnival Night (1956). Overnight, Gurchenko achieved fame as well as celebrity status. Throughout the next two years, she toured the entire country with her Carnival Night-inspired musical numbers, attracting crowds of fans.
The Soviet cultural establishment, however, deemed her style too western and too out of line with Soviet standards. She was accused of receiving wages above state-set levels as compensation for her shows. She became the target of highly critical articles in several influential Soviet periodicals, devoted to her financial wrongdoing and her alleged lack of patriotism.
In 1958, another musical with Lyudmila was released, Devushka s gitaroy/Girl with a Guitar (Aleksandr Faintsimmer, 1958), shot mostly before these articles were published. The musical was not recommended for wide distribution and was a box-office flop.
Soviet-Russian postcard issued in 1982. Lyudmila Gurchenko in Karnavalnaya noch/Carnival Night (Eldar Ryazanov, 1956).
Soviet-Russian postcard. Lyudmila Gurchenko and Yuriy Nikulin in the Russian WWII drama Dvadtsat' dney bez voyny/Twenty Days Without War (Aleksej German, 1977). Postcard issued in 1982.
Her long-awaited comeback as a superstar of Soviet film
In the mid-1970s, Lyudmila Gurchenko starred in several films, which, although only moderately successful, helped to showcase her dramatic talent. In 1979 she landed a role in director Andrei Konchalovsky's Sibiriada/Siberiade and in 1982 in Vokzal dlya dvoikh/Station for Two, once again by Eldar Ryazanov, who by then had become one of the USSR's most popular and prolific directors.
The role of forty-something waitress Vera in this touching film became her long-awaited comeback as a superstar of Soviet film. Subsequently, she starred in Vladimir Menshov's Lyubov i golubi/Love and Pigeons (1985), among many other films and TV shows.
Her multifaceted talent was recognized on many occasions. She received the title of People's Artist of the USSR, the highest honour that could be bestowed to a musical artist, in 1983. She carried a leading role in Ozhog/The Burn (1989) with Director Gennady Glagoliev and Director of Photography Igor Chepusov.
Gurchenko wrote a book about her life during the German occupation in Kharkiv and about her life at the beginning of her acting career. In 2010, she was awarded an Order 'For Merit to the Fatherland', 2nd Class (she received the 4th Class of the same Order in 2000 and the 3d Class in 2005), one of the highest civil decorations in post-Soviet Russia (with 3rd and 2nd Degree Orders having been awarded to very few extremely distinguished individuals, and the 1st Degree Order being nominally held by a serving President of Russia).
At the age of 70, she still performed and attended galas. Lyudmila Gurchenko was married five times and had one daughter with her first husband, Boris Andronikashvili. From her daughter Maria Korolyova (1959-2017), she had two grandchildren as well as one great-granddaughter.
On 14 February 2011, Gurchenko fell near her house and broke her hip. She was taken to the hospital and underwent an operation the following day. On 30 March her condition worsened – either due to the operation or a heart failure – and she died that evening. She was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery (Moscow) after a civil funeral a few days later.
Soviet-Russian postcard. Lyudmila Gurchenko and Stanislav Lyubshin in Pyat vecherov/Five Evenings (Nikita Mikhalkov, 1979). Postcard issued in 1982.
Soviet-Russian postcard, 1983. Photo: Mosfilm. Lyudmila Gurchenko in Lyubimaya zhenshchina mekhanika Gavrilova/The Beloved Woman of Mechanic Gavrilov (Pyotr Todorovskiy, 1983).
Source: Steve Shelokhonov (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.
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