Valeria Zaklunnaya - biography, photo, personal life, children, cause of death of the actress

Valeria Zaklunnaya was born in Russia, spent her childhood in Ukraine, then studied in Moscow, then Kyiv. So the actress remained half Russian, half Ukrainian throughout her life and was very worried about the conflict between her native countries.

Valeria was born in Stalingrad. Yes, what time! August 15, 1942 Literally under bombs. But the mother and child survived and were sent to the rear - to the city of Engels, Saratov region. Zaklunnaya's parents were originally from Ukraine, so in 1950 her family moved to Kyiv.

Biography

She was born at the height of the Great Patriotic War - in 1942 in Stalingrad. It is unknown what her fate would have been like if, soon after the birth of Valeria Zaklunnaya, she and her family had not been evacuated to the city of Engels. After the war they moved to Kyiv. It’s interesting to know what Valeria was like as a child? What were you interested in? What plans did you make for your future life? First things first.

As a child, she was only friends with boys. She was not attracted to the games of “mother and daughter” that were common among girls. But at the same time, Valeria had no problems with behavior. She did well at school. Her interests were very diverse: books, theater, home economics, gymnastics. She really enjoyed role-playing. She even acted in plays, but did not seriously think about working in the theater. Valeria believed that only the most outstanding and talented individuals could work here. She didn't consider herself that way. Who did Zaklunnaya want to be? She dreamed of becoming a pilot or engineer.

After school, Valeria entered the water transport technical school. After graduating, she got a job in the design department. She really liked the work, but two years later fate took an unexpected turn. The girl decided to enroll in the acting department and left for Moscow. At the age of 24, Valeria Zaklunnaya brilliantly graduated from the Moscow Art Theater School. Today it’s even difficult to imagine that a huge number of viewers could lose their acquaintance with such a wonderful actress.

“Only a real artist can gather a hall.” In memory of Valeria Zaklunnaya

“An artist is a piece of production.
There are very few artists who have the right to go out to the viewer and talk to him directly, to tell him about all the pain and the viewer will believe it. This requires in-depth education of both soul and body, there must be knowledge,” said the wonderful Ukrainian actress Valeria Zaklunnaya, who herself fully met these requirements. She is not with us today. She died on October 22 in Kyiv. In Kyiv, on the Maidan of which a maddened crowd has been raging for more than one year, and parades of Ukrainian Nazis are taking place along Khreshchatyk, where the scoundrels who seized power are leading the destruction of Donbass. But normal people also live here, who, to the best of their ability, are trying to counteract Ukraine’s final slide into the abyss. These included Valeria Zaklunnaya - a talented actress, a beautiful woman and a deeply decent person, connected by thousands of threads with her land, the true history of her country and family.

Valeria Zaklunnaya-Mironenko. Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1979 - for the role of Katerina Deryugina in the duology “Earthly Love” - “Fate”). Laureate of the State Prize of the Ukrainian SSR named after. T.G. Shevchenko (1975 – for the role of Stefa Kotsiumbas in the film “Until the Last Minute”). She was awarded the gold medal named after. A.P. Dovzhenko (1978 – for participation in the film “Fate”). People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1979)

For half a century, Valeria Zaklunnaya-Mironenko appeared on the stage of the Kyiv Academic Russian Drama Theater named after. Lesya Ukrainka. In the very first years of Ukraine’s independence, the word “Russian” disappeared from the name of the theater, but, unlike another prima of this theater, Ada Rogovtseva, who integrated herself into the wake of Ukrainian nationalist ideology, and sometimes “ran ahead of the locomotive,” she did not betray her strong heroines , wise women, accomplished individuals. She almost never played other heroines. Even in the image of Glasha, the girlfriend of the bandit Gorbaty in the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed,” she managed to reveal the full depth of her disgusting essence through the power of talent. By the way, Valeria Gavrilovna herself was surprised that it was Glasha who immeasurably expanded the number of her fans.

Still from the film “The meeting place cannot be changed”

In life, she repeated the traits of her best heroines. She went to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to support the liquidators, almost got into a car accident, accompanying the then disgraced presidential candidate Leonid Kuchma. And, unlike some of her colleagues, she did not burn her party card in front of the cameras and did not “expose” the Soviet system.

She told me about this and much more in conversations we had in Kyiv, incl. and when she was a people's deputy from the Communist Party of Ukraine. It must be said that Valeria Gavrilovna was a very private person and did not favor journalists. But thanks to friends who recommended me as a like-minded person, I made an exception.

Born at the front

– Valeria Gavrilovna, you usually don’t talk much about your childhood. Some things are even incomprehensible to me. For example, it is written that your parents are military men, and you were born in besieged Stalingrad, and the documents indicate the city of Engels, Samara region.

– Indeed, I was born in Stalingrad, where terrible battles took place. And for two weeks my mother sat with me in a sewer pipe, because it was impossible to leave the city. My dad, who was a signalman at headquarters, approached Khrushchev (member of the military council of the Stalingrad Front N.S. Khrushchev - Ed.) and asked him to help evacuate us. And so we were transported by the last ferry to Engels, where I was registered.

– How did you get to Ukraine?

– My parents are from Ukraine. The war found them in Lutsk. Retreating along with the troops, they ended up in Stalingrad. As soon as Sumy was liberated, we returned there. My brother was already born in Sumy. And then in 1950, dad was transferred to work in Kyiv, and since that time we have been living here. After school, without getting enough points for university, I entered a technical school with a degree in design draftsman. After graduation, she began working at the “mailbox”, the current research institute “Kvant”. Now I don’t even remember what I did. All that remains in my memory is that my thesis was “a stand for testing friction clutches.” I got there because my dad really wanted his daughter to be an engineer.

– Your whole life is connected with both Russia and Ukraine. Which place do you consider your homeland?

– The Soviet Union is my big and small Motherland. And my eternal pain, because I will never agree with what happened. As if they tore a person alive, scattered him in different directions and commanded: you, Ukraine, a piece of a leg, move. There’s a piece of a hand somewhere – too, come on, work! Now we can only sob from the powerlessness to fix anything. Unfortunately, recently a whole generation has grown up who have nothing to compare today’s life with. It’s good if the child’s brains are invested in the family. And if not, then thugs arise who propose, for example, to demolish the monument to Pushkin in Donetsk and erect a monument to Bandera.

The path to art

– Where on this path did the craving for theater begin?

– When I was still in school, there was a Youth Theater next to our school. My mother, who was born in a remote, downtrodden village, began to discover theater and all city life only when we moved to Kyiv. She and I went to a subscription store, signed up and stood behind books at night. And then we read these books together. Once every two months, as a reward for good studies, I was taken to the theater. And opposite our school there was a club of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with many studios and clubs, in which many of us were enrolled. I had the third category in gymnastics, the first in volleyball. In addition, I studied in the drama studio, led by Sokolovsky, and the artistic word studio, led by Lyubov Shah. These are the actors of the theater. Lesya Ukrainka. In the evenings I didn’t run anywhere, but disappeared there.

It was incredibly interesting, but I never thought that I would become an artist. I was lucky that once every ten years the Moscow Art Theater organized visiting sessions throughout the Soviet Union, sometimes in the Far East, sometimes somewhere else. This time we came to Kyiv. If it weren’t for Lyubov Shah, I would simply be afraid to go there. However, after three qualifying rounds, out of a huge number of applicants, ten people remained, who were recommended to go to Moscow to take exams at the Moscow Art Theater School. I was supposed to go too, but then it turned out that my mother had gone on vacation, my dad was on a business trip, my brother was at a meeting, and my grandmother had a heart attack and I couldn’t leave her. Thank God, dad came and said: where are you going? I say that I’m going with amateur performances to collective farms, and I myself am going to Moscow.

I passed the selection again, and I was accepted into the studio, but conditionally, because I had bad speech with “gekanya” and “hekanya”, which I then had to work on for a long time. Well, when I had to return home after the exams, it turned out that I had nothing to go with, I didn’t even have seven rubles to get to Kyiv in a general carriage. I call home, crying: “Mom, I want to go home!” And she: “Which village are you in?” “I’m in Moscow, I entered the Moscow Art Theater.”

What kind of Moscow Art Theater is there - for my parents there was only the Bolshoi Theater! Therefore, the parents decided that their daughter entered the Bolshoi Theater. Of course, they sent me the money, and I returned home.

Dad was very proud of me, mom just cried because she thought she had lost me forever. I remember my first performance, which my parents came to, the first movie with my participation, which was shown at the Green Theater. It was a family ritual. And then, when my mother passed away, my father came to the theater for performances with my participation, during the intermission he stood near my portrait, looked at it and cried. "What's wrong with you?" - they asked him. “This is my daughter,” he answered through tears.

Mom died in 70, dad in 86. I was never able to marry him. Every time he answered me: they are worse than my mother. And when they ask me who your parents are, I answer: they are amazing, kind, honest people who love each other and me. They are not heroes, but good, respectable people whom I miss very much and whom I will always love.

In the film “Earthly Love” with Yuri Yakovlev (1974)

Great art

– I have been very lucky in this life. Firstly, I found a very good cast of the Lesya Ukrainka Theater. Secondly, I studied at the Moscow Art Theater with great artists - Pilyavskaya, Karev, Stanitsyn, Yanshin, Gribov, Tarasova (the list could go on for a long time). This is the “nature” on which Stanislavsky created and tested his school, and this school is still alive. The best Russian artists live by these laws.

We had the strictest selection. There were no private schools then, as there are now. Look how in the emerging “clone” of the state university of culture, artists are sculpted for money. (Recently, this so-called university was denied accreditation. - G.S.). Well, girls with two-meter legs are dancing, and then where do they go, to the panel? After all, only a real artist has the opportunity to gather an audience and make him think and feel the way he thinks and feels. You can sculpt anything. I watch Verka Serduchka with delight. Danilko in life is a smart, thoughtful, focused boy, but this is what he came up with. In his case, I don't talk bad about him because he is very talented.

– Valeria Gavrilovna, agree, there should be a demand for such artists. But today there is a demand for Serduchka, although it is talentedly packaged, it is still chewing gum for the viewer. And it’s doubly offensive for good artists who, coming to Donetsk with an engagement, believe that “any sex will do for the province.” Forgetting one simple truth that in the age of developed communications, the province as such no longer exists for a long time and some pensioner from the village of Gadyukino may know more about Stanislavsky’s school than a metropolitan resident who every day walks past the theater named after the great director.

– Unfortunately, even good artists sometimes make money with hack work. They urgently put together a group, scatter the text, come and ask: give us this backstage and this one, as well as two chairs. Hack work seems disgusting to me, but if we consume it, then that’s what we need. But, on the other hand, it’s very difficult to tour now. And this area of communication between theaters is in a deep corral. I often remember the past, when the theater traveled to Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, the Baltic states, and Moscow for a month. Finding ourselves in a new environment, we not only gave away our skills, but also fed from the viewer. Recently our theater went on tour to Moscow. Theater named after Vakhtangov offered us his stage, and we offered him ours. Nowadays this is not just a rarity, but also a huge burden for the theater: to go out, take out the scenery, rent a hotel, pay daily allowances.

– Are you involved in many performances?

– No, only in two – “Trees Die While Standing” and “Autumn Violins” (recently Zaklunnaya has only been involved in the first of the productions. - G.S.). Our romance with cinema also faded.

– Do you play in other theaters?

– I don’t understand this - an artist should have one theater.

At the 8th Moscow International Film Festival with Gina Lollobrigida and colleagues in Soviet cinema (1973)

Dissonance

“In general, I’ve stopped understanding a lot of things in my current life.” Pushkin is now a foreigner in Ukraine. And teachers of Russian philology, it turns out, teach foreign literature. “Well, what can I tell my students in an hour a week? - says such a teacher. – Just list the names of Pushkin, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Blok? We are throwing completely uneducated people out of school and into life!”

In my time, even if it was considered bad for some, in Soviet times, we studied Lesya Ukrainka in four lessons. This was also not enough for me to subsequently play her in the theater, but from the school curriculum I knew at least five of her poems, I knew her works, biographical facts! Now schoolchildren know about Pushkin firsthand, not to mention Lomonosov, the poets of the Silver Age, but they don’t read Green!

I was at Greene’s grave – and such a wonderful feeling arose in me. How should a girl educate her feelings, prepare for life, if she has not read “Running on the Waves” or “Scarlet Sails”? How? Unfortunately, the authorities believe that the people do not need this. Girls today are raised differently.

In power

“I’m afraid to look into the faces of people who say: I want power. Such people should not be allowed there!” – the actress told me. And so she went into power herself, for ideological reasons. She did not interfere in economics or politics, doing what she was good at. But she said with despair: “I’m hitting a blank wall.” And yet, after much delay and a presidential veto, the Rada adopted the Law on Theaters and the Law on Touring Activities. She managed to achieve the renovation of the Kirovograd Theater building, where many Ukrainian luminaries came from, and to protect the artists who began to survive from Andreevsky Descent - a kind of Kyiv Montmartre with its workshops, galleries and shops.

Deputy Zaklunnaya’s assets include rescuing paintings by Picasso, Modigliani, Matisse, Dali, Renoir, Kandinsky, Chagall, and Ukrainian avant-garde artists from the collection of the bankrupt Gradobank, which almost ended up in the private collections of the most active “privatizers.” She and her comrades managed to stop the auction and, through the Verkhovna Rada, legislate this collection as a national treasure of Ukraine.

It was possible, according to my heroine, to combine creativity and parliamentary activity solely because she “moved into that sweet age for which not many roles were written, and they don’t even stage classics these days.”

There is no modern dramaturgy

“It’s no secret to you and me that there is practically no modern dramaturgy, like literature,” V. Zaklunnaya was sure. – And no matter how Andrukhovich made his poems in Lviv (he claims that the poem should be without rhyme), for me this is not literature, although he received the Shevchenko Prize. This doesn't interest me. I am interested in real literature that gives food to both the mind and the heart. I am interested in the theater where a person comes and all his senses work: vision, hearing, and heart. And when I come to the theater and Viktyuk kicks out in front of me, I don’t understand it. When his play “Let’s Have Sex!” was shown in Viktyuk’s homeland, Lvov, I even sent a telegram there.

– Ukraine has its own shocking director – Zholdak, who, however, has already moved from Kharkov to Berlin.

– Zholdak is a very gifted guy. And while he was doing theater, everything was fine. He's probably gone crazy now. Well, why should he disturb the ashes of Turgenev, who did nothing wrong to him and can no longer answer? Take the title “A Month in the Country” and then dance on its bones. It is criminal if you have even a shred of respect left in you towards the culture in which you grew up. Solzhenitsyn alone objected to Zholdakov’s production of Ivan Denisovich. In my wildest delirium, I cannot imagine how a self-respecting artist agreed to sit in the same cage with dogs, go on stage and, in fact, not say a word. But “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” is one of Solzhenitsyn’s best stories. If you really want creativity, then write your own libretto, like in a ballet, and stage whatever you want. Maybe then it will seem interesting to me, because I will see your delights, your tastes or ability to think beautifully.

– Valeria Gavrilovna, you speak from the point of view of an accomplished artist who has gone through a very successful path. Maybe in the current situation the artist has nowhere to work? That’s why they are trying to “get noticed”, “promote themselves” and “promote themselves” in order to occupy a certain step. Almost like in the West, where some artists started out by filming porn.

– This is a dead-end path with the wrong initial premise. I will return to the Moscow Art Theater again. When Stanislavsky and Nemirovich wanted to create it, they traveled all over the country, all the provinces, and they found three quarters of the artists in Ukraine. Then directors began to educate artists, improve their culture, soul, and worldview. Each of them practically became an encyclopedist. An uneducated, stupid person cannot become a great artist, except as an exception.

Family

The support in my heroine’s life was her family. She lived with her husband Alexander Mironenko, a scientist, Doctor of Philosophy, political scientist, for almost 30 years. At one time they were almost colleagues: she was a deputy, a member of the opposition faction, he was a member of the Constitutional Court.

“Do you have any friction on this score?” – I asked Zaklunnaya. “If there are scoundrels in the courts, then not everyone who ends up there must necessarily become one,” was the answer. “I value the life that my husband and I lived very much.” My husband and I agreed: let’s have heaven in our house. And for as long as we have been living with him, for decades now, we have been striving for this. The daughter is already an adult, the grandchildren are adults. Now they live separately."

Zaklunnaya's irrepressible energy did not allow her to sit idle. There was downtime at the theater - I built a dacha, planted trees and flowers, and learned how to plant them. “On my five acres,” she said proudly, “everything grows - from strawberries to potatoes and strange flowers. We spend most of the year there. “And she added: “What could be more important in life than love, home, good food and animals, which I treat with more tenderness than some people!”

But Valeria Zaklunnaya’s earthly family paradise had strict time limits. Her husband died in 2014, and two years later it was her turn.

...Today marks nine days since the Actress left us. Bright memory!

The beginning of a creative journey

Years of study in Moscow only strengthened her desire to return to Ukraine. Although Valeria Zaklunnaya was invited to the best Moscow theaters, she chose the Lesya Ukrainka Theater. An important role in the decision was played by the fact that her parents lived in Kyiv. Valeria worked in the theater for more than fifty years. He was her calling, her outlet.

Many readers will be interested to know with what role Zaklunnaya’s creative career began? The theater staged a play based on Alexei Tolstoy’s novel “Walking Through Torment.” Valeria was entrusted with the role of one of the main characters - Katya. She coped with it brilliantly, earning an ovation from the audience and bouquets of flowers from her fans.

Valeria Zaklunnaya: the beginning of the journey

The Russian film star was born in Volgograd, this happened in August 1942. Valeria Zaklunnaya was born into a family of immigrants from Ukraine. The girl was only a few months old when she and her mother were evacuated. The family spent some time in the Saratov region. In 1950, Valeria’s parents decided to return to their homeland, and that’s how she ended up in Kyiv.

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Valeria Zaklunnaya did not immediately decide on her choice of life path. As a child, the active and inquisitive girl had many hobbies. She attended various clubs (for example, reading and home economics), and practiced rhythmic gymnastics and volleyball. There was a time when I dreamed of becoming a pilot.

As a teenager, Valeria began studying in a theater studio. She liked to try on various images, but she did not seriously think about the acting profession, since she did not consider herself talented enough.

Films and roles

Cinematography brought Valeria Zaklunnaya enormous popularity. She created a large number of bright and memorable images. Let's remember some of them.

The actress gained all-Union fame from her cameo role in the film “The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed.” She played here the mistress of the leader of a gang of robbers. The actress did a really amazing job with the role.

Valeria also played in the film about home front workers “A Particularly Important Assignment.” In the story, men fight enemies at the front, and women help them in the rear. Valeria Zaklunnaya and Lyudmila Gurchenko showed how strong and resilient an ordinary woman can be during a period of terrible trials.

In the films “Earthly Love” and “Fate” the actress played Katya Deryugina. Bright and brave, she became the favorite heroine of many viewers.

The role of Maria Odintsova in the film “Siberian Girl” is one of the most striking and memorable. The heroine of Valeria Zaklunnaya tries with all her might to preserve the riches of the surrounding nature.

Filmography

1967 - Wedding Bells
1967 - Theater and fans
1968 - Honore de Balzac's mistake - Marina, beloved Levka
1970 - Peace to huts - war to palaces - Princess Dolgorukaya
1971-1972 - Day after day - episode
1972 - Siberian - Maria Sergeevna Odintsova, first secretary of the district committee
1973 - Until the last minute - Stefa Kotsiumbas
1973 - Duma about Kovpak. Film one “Alarm” - Domna Rudneva
1974 - All the evidence against him - Olga Ivanovna Lupan, police major, investigator
1974 - Earthly Love - Katerina Deryugina
1974 - Torch (film-play)
1975 - Duma about Kovpak. Film two "Buran" - Domna Rudneva
1975 - Simple concerns - Zoya
1977 - Fate - Katerina Tarasovna Deryugina, Bryukhanov’s wife
1977 - Front behind the front line - Irina Petrovna, doctor
1978 - Late berry - Pavel Andreevna Brus
1978 — The Mistress (film-play)
1978 - I want to see you ( Ich will euch sehen , GDR) - Elisabeth
1979 - Here, on my land - Vera Mikhailovna
1979 - The meeting place cannot be changed - Claudia, Karp’s friend
1980 - Particularly important task - Maria Evgenievna, Kirillov’s wife
1980 - Extraordinary circumstances - Elena Kuzminichna Sergeeva
1981 - “Night witches” in the sky - Guard Major Evdokia (Dusya) Boguslavskaya, squadron commander
1981 - Front behind enemy lines - Irina Petrovna, doctor
1983 - Karastoyanovs (Bulgarian) Russian. - Andrey's mother
1983 - Silver Age - Zamfira
1985 - Grooms (Ukrainian) Russian. — Darina
1987 - A case from newspaper practice - Yanina Mikhailovna Shorokhova
1998 - It’s dangerous to deal with you (film-play)

Interesting Facts

The actress received her name in honor of the pilot Valeria Khomyakova, who shot down two fascist planes near Stalingrad.
Valeria Zaklunnaya considered the Soviet Union her homeland.
During her school years, she attended a drama studio.
Valeria entered the theater institute on her first try.
Her film partners were such famous actors as Vladimir Vysotsky, Evgeny Matveev, Yuri Yakovlev, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan and others.
The famous actor Evgeny Matveev, who was considered a great admirer and connoisseur of female beauty, saw Valeria Zaklunnaya for the first time and was literally speechless with admiration and immediately decided to film her in his film “Fate.”
Among the unplayed roles of the actress are Anna Karenina, Vassa Zheleznova, Lyubov Yarovaya.
Valeria Zaklunnaya, whose biography became the object of our attention, worked without understudies. She herself taught herself to climb rocks, drive a car and do many other difficult and dangerous things that each new role required.

Valeria Zaklunnaya: personal life, children

The talented actress and beautiful woman had a huge number of fans. Men simply went crazy about her - they showered her with armfuls of flowers and complimented her. She captivated with her eyes, voice, figure, and temperament. Valeria Zaklunnaya was married three times. She met her first husband in Moscow. They studied together, and in their fourth year they decided to get married, although a month later they were already divorced. The fact is that her husband Harry Yakovlevich Bardin wanted to live and work in Moscow, and Valeria dreamed of returning to Kyiv. The young family could not find a compromise.

Soon Valeria remarried actor Valery Sivach, her theater partner. Zaklunnaya considered this marriage a mistake, since she realized late that they were complete strangers. The third husband, Alexander Mironenko, was far from cinema and theater. He studied political science and philosophy. Valeria Zaklunnaya lived with him until his death. They had a wonderful, warm relationship. She treated his daughter Olga as her own, and considered her children to be her grandchildren. They met often and loved spending time together.

Did the actress have her own children? Valeria Zaklunnaya, unfortunately, did not manage to experience the happiness of motherhood. She was always very worried about this and even kept the tags of the newborn babies of her acquaintances and friends.

Personal life

Of course, fans are interested not only in the roles played by Valeria Zaklunnaya. The personal life of the star also occupies the public. The actress got married for the first time while still studying at the Moscow Art Theater School. Her choice fell on animation director Harry Bardeen. Surprisingly, this marriage broke up a month later.

Zaklunnaya got married for the second time in 1966. She lived with actor Valery Sivach for about 18 years. In 1985, the actress again decided to tie the knot, falling in love with political scientist Alexander Mironenko. With her third husband, she finally found happiness. The Russian film star never had children, since she could not have them.