Irina Gubanova: the beginning of the journey
The future performer of the role of Svetlana Soboleva was born in St. Petersburg, a joyful event occurred in March 1940. Irina Gubanova was born into a family of employees; there were no famous actors among her relatives. The girl lost her father early; he left the family when she turned seven. The first years of Irina’s life were spent in Orsk, where the family was forced to move during the war years.
As a child, Irina Gubanova loved to dance and dreamed of becoming a ballerina. It is not surprising that after graduating from school she became a student at the Leningrad Vaganova Choreographic School. The girl graduated from college in 1958, but never connected her life with ballet.
An excerpt characterizing Gubanov, Irina Igorevna
I was completely shocked by how much anguish there was in this woman’s voice!.. And, as it turned out, it shocked not only me, the answer also stunned her strange husband, but only in a different way. I felt a wild whirlwind of alien energy next to me, which literally tore everything around me. Books, flowers, a tea cup - everything that was lying on the table flew down with a roar. The neighbor turned white as a sheet and hastily began to push me out. But such “effects” as throwing cups have not frightened me for a very long time. Therefore, I gently pushed away the poor shaking woman and firmly said: “If you don’t stop scaring your wife so vilely, I’m leaving, and look for someone else for the same number of years... But the man didn’t pay any attention to me.” Apparently, all these long years, he was just waiting for someone to eventually find someone who could help him “get” his poor wife and his ten-year “sacrifice” would not be in vain. And now, when it finally really happened, he completely lost control of himself... - Mile, Milenka, I’ve been wanting to say for so long... come with me, dear... let’s go. I can’t do it alone... I can’t live without you for so many years... come with me. He mumbled something incoherently, repeating the same words all the time. And then it only dawned on me what this man really wanted!!! He asked his living, beautiful wife to leave with him in a place that simply meant dying... At this point I couldn’t stand it any longer. - Listen to me! You're just crazy! – I mentally screamed. “I won’t say these vile words to her!” Get away to where you should have been long ago!.. This is exactly your place. I was simply sick with indignation!.. Could this really happen?! I didn’t yet know what I would do, but I knew one thing for sure: I would never give him this woman for anything in the world. He was infuriated that I did not repeat to her what he said. He shouted at me, yelled at her, cursed in words that I had never heard... He cried, if you can call it crying... And I realized that now he could truly become dangerous, but I still didn’t understand how this can happen. Everything in the house moved furiously, window panes shattered. Milia stood in a stupor in horror, unable to utter a word. She was very scared, because, unlike me, she did not see anything that was happening in that “other” reality that was closed to her, but saw only inanimate objects “dancing” in front of her in some kind of crazy dance ... and slowly went crazy... It’s very funny in books to read about mysterious poltergeists, other realities and admire the heroes who always “defeat dragons”... In reality, there is nothing “funny” in this, except for the quiet horror that you don’t know what what to do with this, and that because of your helplessness, a good person could die right now... I suddenly saw how Mile began to sink to the floor and became pale as death. I became terribly scared. I suddenly felt like who I really was then - just a little girl who, through her stupidity, got into something terrible and now doesn’t know how to get out of it all. “Well, no,” I thought, “you won’t get it!” And with all my might I energetically hit this insignificant entity, putting all my indignation into this blow... A strange howl was heard... and everything disappeared. There was no more crazy movement of objects in the room, there was no fear... and there was no more that strange crazy man who almost sent his innocent wife to the next world... There was dead silence in the house. Only occasionally some broken things jingled. Milia sat on the floor with her eyes closed and showed no signs of life. But for some reason I was sure that everything would be fine with her. I walked up to her and stroked her cheek. “Aunt Milya, it’s already over,” I whispered quietly, trying not to scare her. - He will never come again. She opened her eyes and looked around her disfigured room with a tired look. -What was that, honey? – she whispered. – It was your husband, Vlad, but he will never come again. Then she seemed to burst... I had never heard such a heartbreaking cry before!.. It seemed that this poor woman wanted to cry out everything that had accumulated in her life over these long and, as I later found out, very terrible years. But, as they say, no matter how much despair or resentment there is, you cannot cry endlessly. Something overflows in the soul, as if tears wash away all the bitterness and pain, and the soul, like a flower, slowly begins to return to life. So Milya, little by little, began to come to life. Surprise appeared in the eyes, gradually giving way to timid joy. “How do you know he won’t come, baby?” – as if wanting confirmation, she asked. Nobody called me “baby” for a long time, and especially at that moment it sounded a little strange, because I was exactly the “baby” who had just, one might say, accidentally saved her life... But naturally, I was not going to be offended. And there was no strength, not only to take offense, but even just... to move to the sofa. Apparently everything to the last was “spent” on that one blow, which now I could not repeat for anything. My neighbor and I sat together for quite a long time, and she finally told me how all this time (for ten whole years!!!) her husband had been tormenting her. True, she was not completely sure then that it was him, but now her doubts were dispelled, and she knew for sure that she was right. Dying, Vlad told her that he would not rest until he took her with him. So I tried for so many years... I just couldn’t understand how a person could be so cruel and still dare to call such horror love?! But I was, as my neighbor said, just a little girl who could not yet fully believe that sometimes a person can be terrible, even in such a sublime feeling as love... One of the most shocking cases in my very long “practice” “Contacts with the essences of the dead occurred when I was calmly walking home from school one warm autumn evening... Usually I always returned much later, since I went on the second shift, and our lessons ended somewhere around seven o’clock in the evening, but that day There were no last two lessons and we were sent home earlier than usual. The weather was unusually pleasant, I didn’t want to rush anywhere, and before going home I decided to take a short walk. The air smelled of the bittersweet aroma of the last autumn flowers. A playful light breeze rustled in the fallen leaves, quietly whispering something to the naked trees bashfully blushing in the reflections of the sunset. The soft twilight breathed with peace and silence... I really loved this time of day, it attracted me with its mystery and fragility of something that had not happened and at the same time had not even begun... When today had not yet become a thing of the past, and the night was still there didn’t come into its own... Something “nobody’s” and magical, something as if suspended in the “between time”, something elusive... I adored this short period of time and always felt very special in it.
First successes
Gubanova first appeared on the set during her student years. She played a small role in the short film Unlucky Number. By the time she graduated from college, Irina no longer doubted that she wanted to become an actress. The girl managed to get on the staff of the Lenfilm film studio, and then get a role in the musical-drama The Queen of Spades. In this film, she embodied the image of the gentle beauty Polina, whose fate cannot but evoke sympathy among the audience.
Irina Gubanova did not become a star thanks to the musical “The Queen of Spades,” but she managed to attract the attention of directors. The aspiring actress starred in the films “Horizon”, “The 713th Requests Landing”, “I Accept the Battle”, and shone in the short film “The Apparition of Venus”.
Filmography
- 1957 - Girl without an address - neighbor
- 1960 - Queen of Spades - Polina
- 1961 - Horizon - Vera, graduate
- 1961 - Man Follows the Sun - episode
- 1962 - 713 requests landing - American passenger
- 1962 - Empty flight - balneologist
- 1963 - First trolleybus - Sveta Soboleva
- 1963 - I accept the fight
- 1964 - Where are you now, Maxim?
- 1965-1967 - War and Peace - Sonya
- 1966 - The Snow Queen - Princess Elsa
- 1967 - The Green Carriage - Masha Dontsova, friend of Varya Asenkova
- 1968 - Snow Maiden - Kupava
- 1968 - Virineya - librarian Antonina Nikolaevna
- 1970 - Late child - Lyudmila
- 1970 - Franz Liszt. Dreams of Love - Olga Yanina
- 1971 - Where are you, knights? - Olga
- 1973 - Every evening after work - Ellochka
- 1973 - Go ashore
- 1973 - Cement - Polya Ivagina
- 1976 - Heavenly Swallows - Caroline, abbess of the boarding house for noble maidens "Heavenly Swallows"
- 1977 - Stepanova’s memo - Nastya, Tatyana’s mother
- 1978 - Alien - Lena, assistant director
- 1980 - A Day to Reflect
- 1980 - Sicilian Defense - Yanina Stanislavovna Gronskaya, museum expert
- 1981 - The Eighth Wonder of the World - Chernova
- 1981 - Woman in White - Countess Fosco
- 1982 - Private life - Nelly Petrovna, secretary
- 1985 - Battle for Moscow - mother of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya
- 1985 - Accessory to Murder - Miss Summers
- 1986 - Face to Face - Jacqueline
- 1990 - Homo novus - school director
- 1992 - Three days outside the law - Masha’s mother
Star role
Irina Gubanova is an actress who managed to make a name for herself thanks to the film “The First Trolleybus” by Isidor Annensky. The girl played in this film the feminine and charming Svetlana Soboleva, the main character of the melodrama.
Svetlana is a trolleybus driver, which is used by young factory workers in a southern town to get to work. The beauty has many fans; she likes to constantly be in the spotlight. However, an event happens that turns Soboleva’s life upside down.
Films with her participation
“The First Trolleybus” is a melodrama, thanks to which the aspiring actress was able to demonstrate her talent. The rising star began to be actively offered new roles. Irina Gubanova's films were very popular among viewers. The actress, who had no special education, was equally successful in dramatic and lyrical images.
In “The Green Carriage” she played Masha Dontsova, and performed the role of Kupava in “The Snow Maiden”. “War and Peace” is an epic drama in which Irina reincarnated as Sonya, a pupil of Count Rostov. The actress perfectly managed to convey the love that her heroine feels for Nikolai Rostov, the readiness for self-sacrifice.
In “Cement” Gubanova portrayed Polina Ivagina, in “The Woman in White” she played Countess Fostko, and tried on the image of Nelly Petrovna in “Private Life”. One cannot fail to note Irina’s comedic roles, which she performed in “The Late Child,” “The Snow Queen,” and “Sky Swallows.”
Biography[ | ]
Born on March 3, 1940 in Leningrad into a family of employees. The father, Igor Viktorovich Gubanov (born in 1913), left the family when his daughter was seven years old. Mother, Antonina Sergeevna Minaeva (1913 - 2004), raised her daughter alone.
From 1949 to 1958 she studied at the Leningrad Choreographic School named after A.Ya. Vaganova. As a student, while filming the short film “Unlucky Number,” she met actor Sergei Gurzo and soon became his wife. In 1959, their daughter Anna was born, however, the marriage lasted only a few years.
After graduating from college, she was accepted into the staff of the Lenfilm film studio and was soon invited to play the role of Polina in the opera film The Queen of Spades. In fact, this work paved the way for the actress to big cinema. This was followed by the roles of young heroines in the films “Horizon” and “713th Requests Landing.”
In 1963, director Isidor Annensky directed Gubanova in the title role in the film “The First Trolleybus.” Along with the same lyrical heroines (Masha Dontsova in The Green Carriage, Kupava in The Snow Maiden) she created interesting dramatic images, such as Sonya in War and Peace, Polina Ivagina in Cement, Countess Fosco in The Woman in White ", Nelly Petrovna in "Private Life". Characteristic comedy roles were also excellent, among which we should note Princess Elsa (“The Snow Queen”), Lyudmila (“The Late Child”) and Mother Caroline (“Sky Swallows”).
In the late 1960s, Irina Gubanova became the wife of Alexander Kharitonovich Arshansky (1928-2003), a leading figure in the field of art. In 1978, he was transferred to Moscow in connection with his appointment as chairman of Sovinfilm, and Irina Igorevna had to move with him.
Since 1978 - artist of the Moscow Theater-Studio of Film Actors. She worked there until the early 1990s.
In parallel with acting, she worked a lot in dubbing. In the 1990s, voice acting became her main craft and livelihood. She collaborated with the NTV and NTV-Plus television channels, voicing roles for them in foreign TV series. Her latest work was the documentary series “Cold War”.
She passed away after pneumonia on April 15, 2000. The urn with ashes was buried at the Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
The daughter of the actress, Anna Gubanova, graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Culture named after Krupskaya and worked in one of the city cinemas as a methodologist-organizer. In the last years of her mother's life, she was unable to work due to mental illness. Tragically died in 2007.
Tombstone of I. I. Gubanova at the Serafimovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg.
Personal life
Gubanova met her first husband during her student years. This happened while working on the short film “Unlucky Number”. Her romance with actor Sergei Gurzo was beautiful, but the marriage was unhappy. The couple separated in 1959, having managed to give birth to a daughter, Anna.
For the second time, Irina Gubanova decided to tie the knot in marriage in the late 60s. Her chosen one was Alexander Arshansky, chairman of Sovinfilm. The second marriage turned out to be successful; the couple lived in perfect harmony for many years. For Alexander's sake, the actress decided to move to Moscow and joined the troupe of the film actor's Studio Theater. She worked in this theater until the early 90s, after which she completely switched to film scoring.
Irina’s daughter stayed to live in St. Petersburg with her grandmother, so the actress was constantly “torn” between the northern capital and Moscow.
Death
In the late 90s, doctors discovered cancer in the actress. Irina courageously fought the disease until the very end, did not give up her favorite job and was confident that she could recover. She tried all available treatment methods, even turning to traditional medicine. Unfortunately, she was diagnosed too late and could not be saved. “Cold War” is a documentary series that she worked on in her final days to narrate.
Gubanova left this world in April 2000, she was only 60 years old. She died in Moscow, but relatives transported the body to St. Petersburg. The actress's grave is located at the Serafimovskoye cemetery. The star's only daughter survived her mother by only seven years. In the last years of her life, Anna suffered from mental illness, which made it impossible for her to work. She died in 2007.
A photo of Irina Gubanova can be seen in the article.
