early years
Elena Aroseva was born in Moscow in 1923. Her father, Alexander Yakovlevich, was one of the leaders of the Moscow uprising of 1917. Mother, Olga Vyacheslavovna, graduated from the Institute of Noble Maidens, and was a secretary-assistant for Vyacheslav Molotov’s wife, Polina.
It is worth admitting that the first half of the actress’s life was filled with happiness and carefree. She grew up in the company of two sisters - the elder Natalya and the younger Olga. They were constantly surrounded by attention and care. The happy world collapsed literally in an instant when the mother, distinguished by her immaturity, chose her husband over a fleeting infatuation with a young gentleman, to whom she left the family.
During this difficult period, the head of the family was also appointed to Prague; Alexander Yakovlevich refused to leave his daughters in the care of his frivolous wife and took them to the Czech Republic.
There, the girls were mainly cared for by teachers. According to the memoirs of Elena Aroseva, she was delighted when yet another governess quit with a scandal. As a result, during this time the girls had a lot of teachers. One day, the sisters cut up the dress of their teacher, who, before leaving, demanded that she be paid financial compensation.
Childhood and youth
Elena Aleksandrovna Aroseva was born on June 9, 1923 in the city of great opportunities - Moscow. Her father Alexander Yakovlevich was one of the leaders of the Moscow uprising (1917). Mother Olga Vyacheslavovna, a graduate of the Institute of Noble Maidens, was in the service of the secretary-assistant of Vyacheslav Molotov’s wife, Polina.
Actress Elena Aroseva
The first half of the famous actress’s life was filled with happiness. The Arosevs' house was always filled with the euphonious laughter of three daughters: the eldest Natalya, the middle Elena and the youngest Olga. The girls grew up in an atmosphere of care and attention. Their world collapsed when the infantile mother chose a passing hobby over her loving husband and left the family for a new gentleman. During that difficult period for Elena, the head of the family was assigned to Prague. Alexander Yakovlevich, who loved his daughters immensely, flatly refused to leave them in the care of his frivolous mother and took all three to the capital of the Czech Republic.
Elena Aroseva with her sisters
There began the period of teachers, of whom there were a great many during the long years of stay abroad. According to the artist’s recollections, she and Olga were indescribably delighted when the next governess ran away from their house with tears in her eyes. There is a known case when little hooligans cut up a teacher’s dress, and before leaving, she demanded financial compensation from Alexander Yakovlevich. This incident was the last straw in the overflowing cup of patience of the head of the family.
Elena Aroseva in her youth
He took his daughters, who had escaped from his hands, to a ballet school that same day. There, Gertrude Rudolfovna Freund, who later became Arosev’s wife, took up their re-education. With the appearance of the stepmother, the family’s villa, where the entire elite of the Western intelligentsia once gathered, became quiet and uncomfortable. A woman who lived dependently on her husband completely bent him under her. Gertrude passionately wanted to get to Russia, but upon arrival in Moscow she was disappointed by the reality around her.
Portrait of Elena Aroseva
After the majestic Prague, the country in which food was issued on ration cards, and an electric stove for heating homes was purchased only with the permission of the Central Committee, looked, to put it mildly, faded. Freund hated her husband with all her heart and soul. She constantly demanded material benefits from Alexander Yakovlevich, which, no matter how much he wanted, he could not give. In 1937, Gertrude was accused of espionage and participation in a counter-revolutionary terrorist organization. Her husband, who defended his wife’s innocence, also fell out of favor with the authorities. On December 2, 1937, Freund was shot, and on February 10, 1938, Arosev.
To the family tragedy, hidden from prying eyes, was added a tragedy on a universal scale: a year and a half after the death of his father, the Second World War began. Elena Aroseva took part in the defense of the capital: in the evenings after classes she extinguished incendiary bombs and dug anti-tank ditches, and on weekends she helped in logging. From the biography of the eminent artist it is known that in 1944 she was awarded the medal “For the Defense of Moscow”.
Stepmom in the house
After this incident, which was the last straw, the father took the girls to ballet school. Their upbringing was taken up by Gertrude Freund, who later became their stepmother. With her appearance in their villa it immediately became somehow uncomfortable and quiet. Gertrude Rudolfovna turned out to be a powerful woman who passionately wanted to live in Russia, but, once in Moscow, she was deeply disappointed by what she saw.
After the brightness and majesty of Prague, she found herself in a country in social and economic decline. Food was issued on ration cards, and an electric stove for an apartment could only be purchased with the permission of the Central Committee. After this, Freund hated her husband, demanding material benefits from him, but he was unable to fulfill all her desires, even while remaining a very influential man.
In 1937, Gertrude was accused of participating in a terrorist counter-revolutionary organization and espionage. Her husband, who defended her innocence, also found himself out of favor with the authorities. In December 1937, Freund was shot, and in February 1938, Elena Aroseva’s father was shot.
War
To the personal tragedy in the Arosev family was added a misfortune that swept the entire country. The Great Patriotic War began.
The heroine of our article took part in the defense of Moscow. Every evening after class she went to extinguish incendiary bombs and dug anti-tank ditches. On weekends I worked at the logging site. In 1994, she was awarded the medal “For the Defense of Moscow.”
Biography
Sisters Natalya, Olga and Lena Aroseva, 1930s Lena Aroseva was born on June 9, 1923 in Moscow.
Father - Alexander Yakovlevich Arosev, was one of the leaders of the Capital revolutionary uprising in 1917, then was a diplomat. Repressed in 1937.
Mom - Olga Vyacheslavovna Goppen, was from Polish nobles and graduated from the Institute of Generous Maidens, worked as a secretary-assistant for Polina Zhemchuzhina, the wife of Vyacheslav Molotov. The Aroseva family included a Polish aristocrat, the suppressor of the Polish uprising of 1863-1864, Misha Muravyov, a merchant of the first guild, and actors.
Aroseva E. A. participated in the defense of the capital: in the evenings after classes she extinguished lighters and worked in the logging area. She was awarded the medal “For the Defense of Moscow” (1944), and took part in the Victory Parade on Red Square.
In 1945, Lena Aroseva graduated from the Capital City Theater School (teachers: Ariadna Dmitrievna Sokolovskaya, Nikolai Kapitonovich Svobodin).
Comedy, lyric-dramatic actress. She worked in the Lenkom Theater in the town of Brest, in the Russian drama theaters of Vilnius and Tallinn, in the Baltic Fleet Theater of Leningrad, in the Drama Theater of Petrozavodsk.
In 1957, Lena Alexandrovna became an actress at the Omsk Drama Theater, where she currently works. She arrived in Omsk on December 31, 1956. At the same time, at the New Year celebration, she met her destiny - her husband and stage partner, People's Artist Boris Mikhailovich Kashirin (1920-1992).
Son Alexander. At the moment he lives in Moscow, works as a doctor. Granddaughter Maria.
In 2008, she was included in the Book of Honor for cultural figures of the town of Omsk.
Theater career
In 1945, Aroseva became a graduate of the capital's city theater school. Moreover, her debut on the theater stage took place even earlier. She appeared in the play “Dog in the Manger”, where she wore the train of a dress behind actress Maria Babanova.
In 1945, together with other graduates of the school, actress Elena Aroseva went to Brest to create a new theater. After that, she worked at the Vilnius Russian Drama Theater, at the Leningrad Baltic Fleet Theater, and then one season in Tallinn.
It is believed that she reached the pinnacle of her skill on the stage of the Omsk Drama Theater. Director Vladychansky invited her there in 1957. He also invited actor Boris Kashirin, who became her future husband, to Omsk.
Childhood
Elena Kutyreva - Arosyeva was born in the spring of 1984 in the small town of Sarov, located in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Love and mutual understanding always reigned in the family, despite the fact that Elena was not the only child. My father worked as a policeman, and my mother taught at a research institute. She has an older sister, Ksenia, and a younger brother, Pasha.
From an early age, the girl went to ballroom dancing, attended vocal courses, and was involved in sports aerobics and athletics. In addition, Lena received the title of champion in long-distance running. But sport was not her main goal in life; she always wanted to know Spanish and work as a translator.
While studying in high school. Arosyeva, unexpectedly for herself, decided to attend classes at a theater studio.
Elena Aroseva: photo
She took a course with the wonderful teacher E.I. Arsenyeva - Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. She immediately saw talent and a great future in the girl, so she tried in every possible way to interest our aspiring star.
In addition, Emma Ivanovna helped her obtain all the information necessary for admission to a theater university. Therefore, the girl without much difficulty enters the acting department at the School-Studio at the Moscow Art Theater.
Role
In this theater the actress achieved her greatest success. It was after several striking premieres in Omsk that Elena Aroseva’s photos began to appear regularly in local newspapers.
It is noteworthy that she never loved exclusively comedic roles. She preferred to play complex and original characters, in whose character one could detect melancholy and notes of sincerity. For example, her characters from the plays “Conversations under a Clear Moon,” “Energetic People,” “Faryatyev’s Fantasies,” and “Retro” met these criteria.
Few people know that the heroine of our article not only played in the theater, but also wrote songs for productions. This passion soon led her to literature. Many people today are familiar with her poetry and prose. They are imbued with lyricism and soulfulness. For example, the storyteller’s talent was demonstrated in the “Evening Light” series of programs and the “Behind the Cup” radio program. Her books are known: “Towards the Curtain”, “Do you hear, Mashutka, I am writing for you...”, “Paths”, “Shores of Love”, “Boris Kashirin. In the snow-covered courtyard of memory."
It is interesting that Elena Aroseva never appeared in films. Unlike her sister Olga (pictured), who played several dozen roles in films.
Among the bright theatrical roles of Elena Alexandrovna, it is necessary to note the images of Beatrice from “Much Ado About Nothing”, Yvette from “Mother Courage and Her Children”, Natasha from “Three Sisters”, Lisa from “Valentine and Valentina”, Aunt Tony from “Rise and Sing” ", Alla from "From Evening to Noon", Charlotte from "The Cherry Orchard", Daria Ivanovna from "The Deep", Mrs. Wardle from "Pickwick Club".
Elena Aroseva’s filmography has not been supplemented with a single film. She claimed that she would never trade the stage for the film set.
In memory of Elena Aroseva - actress, storyteller and sister
Moscow said goodbye to Elena Aroseva, actress, older sister of the famous Olga Aroseva.
Elena Aroseva died on Saturday, August 13. She was 93 years old, most of which she worked at the Omsk Academic Drama Theater, becoming a symbol of the theater, its star and legend.
Several years ago, at the insistence of her relatives, she moved to Moscow, the city she loved and where she was born “in a two-story log house, typical of Moscow in the 1920s, on Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street,” where “the stoves were lit and the house smelled deliciously of wood,” where “friendly parents and three cheerful daughters lived: Natasha, Lena, Olya.” This is how the biographical sketch “At Sharp Turns” begins. A talented tragicomic actress, Elena Alexandrovna was also an excellent writer, however, like all the Arosevs.
Elena Alexandrovna lived a long, difficult and very interesting life. The girls' father, Alexander Arosev, was a famous diplomat, and the most famous people of that time often visited his house. She saw Tsvetaeva and Chaliapin, stood next to Romain Rolland and was surprised at his thick knitted scarf...
But the sisters' happiness was short-lived. My mother left the family, taking her daughter Natasha with her. The father was left with two girls in his arms, took them to Prague and made them even more unhappy by marrying an aerobics teacher, Gertrude Rudolfovna.
There, abroad, grieving for her mother, Elena Alexandrovna, as she herself recalled, felt the first strong feeling of love for Russia.
“It's hard to believe, but it's true. I remember huge magazines “USSR at a construction site”. This pathos, this greatness, these huge letters - USSR - warmed us terribly in a foreign land,” she recalled.
Together with a gang of embassy children - sister Olya at the head - they teased the police guarding the embassy, singing a song: “We will boldly go into battle for the power of the Soviets.” The police were angry, but did not dare to do anything.
In 1938, after returning to Russia, my father was shot. Then the war began. She had to starve, put out land mines on the roofs, but, surprisingly, the actress’s love for life turned this time into a bright page in her past.
“My war is tender care for Olya. My war is the queues in the kitchen at the canteen for potato peelings, from which the most skillful flatbreads are glued together. My war is my first kiss,” recalled Elena Alexandrovna.
She could have shone on the capital's stage, but she never regretted that she gave her life and talent to Omsk. In this city, her “clumsy life” took on form and meaning. On December 31, 1956, she met Boris Kashirin, her acting partner, husband and destiny, on stage.
“I wanted us to live our lives together, so that we would have a son and his name would be Sasha, so that we would play wonderful roles, so that common thoughts and light poems would hover over us, so that friends, cheerful feasts, quiet evenings, hot nights, so that we grow old together…” she writes in her autobiography.
That's what will happen. The son, Sasha, will come true and become a doctor. Long life will also come true. Are you happy? In Elena Alexandrovna’s book “Boris Kashirin. In the snow-covered courtyard of memory,” dedicated to the memory of her husband, there is a clear answer. Being a person of the old school, having gone through incredible trials in life, she retained in her soul a feeling of gratitude to the past.
— I’m not a completely modern person. I treat the past sacredly and don’t like it when people scold the past. We need to change, we need to build a new life, but at the same time, respecting the past, simply for what it was,” she said.
Elena Alexandrovna was buried at the Golovinsky cemetery, next to her parents and sister.
Byvalin Mir Neonovich , director of the Omsk State Academic Drama Theater
Elena Aleksandrovna is our star, a legend of Omsk, who has worked in our theater for half a century. She played her first roles in Vilnius, then Leningrad. Elena Aroseva came to Omsk after the war. The first performance in the Omsk drama for Elena Alexandrovna was the play “In Old Moscow” based on the play by Vera Panova. She was charming, talented, beautiful and made you fall in love at first sight.
She is called a tragicomic artist, but she could play absolutely anything. And it is also important that she was a wonderful storyteller and realized this talent in television programs, where she talked about Moscow and Omsk actors of the past.
In recent years she has not acted in plays. She had vision problems, she couldn’t see well, and I, being the director, was naturally aware of the problems. She often called and gave advice, always, however, practical. And the theater did not forget her. We paid her a salary every month - something like 10 thousand rubles.
A few years ago we celebrated Elena Aroseva’s 90th birthday. She went on stage and, it seems to me, she was pleased.
Personal life
In the biography of Elena Aroseva, her husband Boris Mikhailovich Kashirin played a large role. True, practically no information about their family has been preserved. It is only known that they met in Omsk at a gala event dedicated to the celebration of the New Year. Kashirin became People's Artist of the RSFSR.
The wife herself has repeatedly called her husband her personal guardian angel. After all the horror and fear that she suffered during the Great Patriotic War, this man was able to add bright colors to her life and restore faith in people.
They lived together for 35 years. Over the years, they have more than once had to refuse promising offers in order to save their family. Elena mentioned this more than once. After the death of Boris Mikhailovich in 1992, Elena had a hard time. Their common son Alexander, who was born in 1961, helped.
He received a full education and a decent upbringing. Now lives in Moscow, works as a doctor. He has two daughters - Anastasia and Maria.
Elena Arosyeva now - career continuation
The actress now has a lot of offers from directors. This is a favorable period for artists when they can choose. Arosyeva continues to work fruitfully.
This year, filming of the new series “Belovodye” is taking place, in which the actress plays a small role. This work attracted Arosyeva with its unusual dramaturgy and excellent script.
From the latest news it is known that filming of the continuation of the film “The Beach” is planned for 2020, in which Elena has a large key role.
Death
The heroine of our article died on August 13, 2020. At that time she was 94 years old. She worked on the stage of the Omsk Drama Theater from 1957 to 1999. This is an impressive achievement, which was even noted in the city’s Book of Honor; the actress herself was awarded the title of Legend of the Omsk Stage.
The last time Aroseva appeared on stage was in June 2013, the year of her 90th birthday. She was awarded the medals “Veteran of Labor” and “For Valiant Labor”. The actress was buried at the Golovinsky cemetery in Moscow.
