Biography
No matter who Lyudmila Khityaeva transformed into - a cunning homewrecker, a simple cook or a proud Cossack woman, the viewer recognized this smile. “In Khityaev’s style,” with one movement of the lips, few of her colleagues were able to convey the entire gamut of feelings. Recognized in her youth as one of the first beauties of Soviet cinema and the face of a generation, the actress now considers it a useless coquetry to hide her age. Lyudmila Ivanovna has retained her independent disposition, sensuality and utmost frankness, even when it comes to her personal life.
Betrayal and love in the life of the legendary actress Lyudmila Khityaeva
It cannot be denied that Lyudmila Khityaeva has always been famous for her charming smile and unsurpassed beauty. I can’t even believe that she is already 88 years old. She is still beautiful and charming.
Once again I am convinced that age is not a hindrance for a woman.
Every age has its own special charm. Many men at one time lost their heads over this amazing woman.
Choice of profession
Lyudmila never dreamed of becoming an actress. Her talent was revealed completely by accident. One day, “for company,” she and a friend went to an audition, where she was asked to read any monologue.
Within a few weeks she was enrolled as a student at the Gorky Theater School.
Favorite men
Actor, Evgeny Evstigneev
The future famous actor was Lyudmila’s classmate. If we talk about their relationship, we can say that it was a very beautiful, bright romance that lasted a short time. Such relationships often occur during the student period.
Actor, Alexander Belokrinkin
Already in her second year of study, Lyudmila met her future husband. The young people got married and had a son, who was named Pavel. The family union fell apart as soon as Lyudmila found out about her husband’s betrayal. It should be noted that a third party informed her about the betrayal.
The marriage broke up, but it later turned out that the husband had been slandered. Unfortunately, it was not possible to return the relationship.
A few years later, Alexander married again.
Doctor, Boris Yakobson
At that moment when she accidentally fell, she met Boris when she got to the hospital. This meeting was not accidental, but fateful. The young doctor did not refuse to help the actress.
The couple began dating, later got married and lived in a happy marriage for seven years. The marriage broke up when Lyudmila caught Boris with a stranger.
He asked her for forgiveness, but the actress was unshakable. She was painfully offended that she had terminated her pregnancy several times and it became a fatal mistake for the rest of her life. The actress could never have children again.
Stuntman, Valery Leontyev
The meeting with Valery took place on New Year’s Eve. Even at that moment he was not free, but very soon he divorced, and the couple began to live together.
This marriage lasted for 20 years. Lyudmila was upset by the fact that she could not bear him a child. This reason prompted her to take an unusual action; she found a suitable woman for him.
After meeting Alena, Valery decided on a relationship that led to marriage and the birth of two children.
The actress remained on good terms with Valery.
Military, Andrey
Another interesting meeting Lyudmila had with a former officer.
Despite the rather large age difference, Andrei diligently sought her affection. After such courtship, Lyudmila finally gave in. The couple lived in a happy marriage for 8 years. The marriage began to fall apart the moment Andrei started drinking.
Realizing his mistake, the man begged for forgiveness, but it was all in vain.
By that time, the artist’s heart was already occupied.
Currently, Lyudmila Ivanovna has devoted her life to her grandchildren, she is a happy grandmother and she has no desire to return to cinema. The actress does not forget about herself and leads a fairly active lifestyle.
Childhood and youth
Lyudmila Khityaeva began her biography in the village of Bolshoye Shirokoe, in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Father Ivan Yakovlevich is an engineer; during the war he worked at a secret factory. Mother Vera Ivanovna served as a military doctor.
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Lyudmila Khityaeva in her youth
After school, Lyuda accidentally entered the Nizhny Novgorod Theater School - a friend went to an audition, and Khityaeva went as a support group. When she was offered to also speak, she, without preparation, but enthusiastically read the famous monologue “Why don’t people fly like birds...”. As a result, Lyudmila was admitted to the university, but her friend was not. Evgeniy Evstigneev became a fellow student at the theater. They say there was a romance.
After college, the young actress joined the troupe of the Nizhny Novgorod Drama Theater. There she played more than a dozen interesting roles. On this stage, Lyudmila was noticed by the writer Anatoly Rybakov and recommended to director Isidor Annensky.
Caring for loved ones
There was a difficult period in the actress’s life when her parents passed away; after their death, something broke in her, there was terrible depression and she didn’t want to see anyone. During the illness of her father and mother, she almost never left their side and lived only with their problems. Her parents died in her arms, and then Lyudmila Ivanovna almost didn’t communicate with anyone for several years, refused to film and didn’t know how to live further, and only after a while she calmed down a little. Her family helped her come to her senses.
Son Pavel studied at the Institute of Oriental Languages and then received a diploma in economics. At first he served as first deputy trade representative at the Russian embassy, and now lives and works in Bangkok, where he develops his business. Her granddaughter also works, and her grandson studied to become a psychologist in America and now works in Thailand. The actress periodically calls back to her family and flies to visit them as soon as possible.
Lyudmila Ivanovna never remained without the attention of fans, they admired her, gave her armfuls of flowers, fell in love and even idolized her, and among them there were many young men. The screen star herself, although she was pleased with the signs of attention, did not agree to a relationship, much less marriage. According to Khityaeva, she no longer needs anyone, because she is happy on her own. This independent woman values freedom and does not want anyone to encroach on it.
Movies
Anatoly Rybakov insisted that Khityaeva be tried for the main role in the film “Ekaterina Voronina,” which was based on his own novel. The actress “competed” with Nonna Mordyukova and managed to prove that she was capable of playing a strong-willed leader fighting bureaucracy. Moreover, already during filming, Luda managed to look unconventional even in the obligatory Soviet patriotic clichés, which instantly attracted the viewer to her.
Films of Lyudmila Ivanovna Khityaeva
Then Annensky was selecting a team of actors for the film adaptation of “ Ekaterina Voronina ” based on Rybakov’s novel. Lyudmila got to the audition together with Nonna Mordyukova, but was able to prove to the selection committee that she would look great in the role of a strong-willed leader who fights with bureaucracy. This film brought her her first great fame, since even among all the Soviet patriotic clichés she was able to look original and bright.
After this, there were several more roles in the role of strong-willed women. Noticing her ability to show the waywardness of a woman, she was invited to the film “ Quiet Don ” by director Sergei Gerasimov. By the way, Sergei and Lyudmila also worked in another film - “ Virgin Soil Upturned ”.
Lyudmila’s work in the following films also brought her popularity:
- “Evdokia”, where she played Evdokia Chernysheva. By the way, this is the actress’s favorite role in her entire life.
- “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, where Lyudmila played the role of the wayward villager Solokha.
- “Finist – Yasny Sokol”
- “Vasily Buslaev”
- "Gypsy"
- "Cook"
Sex symbol of Soviet cinema
The actress herself confirmed this idea. Although there was no such concept in the USSR, now we can confidently evaluate the images of young Khityaeva in films with the word “sexy”. It is noteworthy that the role of Evdokia (the actress’s favorite role) was quite the opposite - she was given artificial wrinkles and gray hair.
She also admired her role in the film “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, in which she wore a fake curvy figure and deliberately pressed her head to her neck so that a double chin appeared.
At the end of the 80s, interest in Khityaeva waned. She was invited to small-scale films, and she decided to give up cinema. She hasn't acted in a movie for a whole decade! But already in the 21st century she returned to the screens, delighting television viewers with roles in the melodrama “ Repentant Love ” and “ The Bread of That Winter .”
Personal life
Lyudmila got married for the first time in her 3rd year at university. Her chosen one was actor Alexander Belokrinkin, behind whom she felt like behind a stone wall. But the relationship deteriorated when Khityaeva began to often leave for filming, and her husband could not boast of rapid career growth. Only 14 years later he married again, but each time he was painfully aware of the news about his ex-wife’s next suitor.
Lyudmila Khityaeva with her son and grandson / Interlocutor
Lyudmila's only son, Pavel, was born into this family. He refused to follow in the footsteps of his parents, graduated from the Institute of Oriental Languages, then also received an economic education, lives with his wife Yulia in Thailand and is engaged in business. The son gave the actress a grandson, also Pavel, and a granddaughter Maria. Photos of loved ones are everywhere in the house, and once a year Khityaeva visits them in Bangkok.
Lyudmila Ivanovna entered into her second marriage in the late 60s with urologist Boris Yakobson, the first surgeon to perform gender reassignment operations in the USSR. The family broke up due to the betrayal of the spouse.
Lyudmila Khityaeva
Lyudmila Ivanovna Khityaeva was born on August 15, 1930 in the city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). The childhood of the future actress was during the harsh war years. Her father, Khityaev Ivan Yakovlevich, an engineer-economist by training, worked at a military plant during the Great Patriotic War, and her mother, Khityaeva Vera Ivanovna, served as a military doctor of the 1st rank.
After the war, in 1946, Lyudmila Khityaeva entered the Gorky Theater School. It happened completely spontaneously. She came to the exams with a friend to see how she was doing. After observing, Lyudmila suddenly asked the commission to listen to her too, after which she read Katerina’s monologue from “The Thunderstorm” by Ostrovsky. I read it so inspiredly that I won over the examiners...
While a student, Lyudmila Khityaeva got married. She recalls: “My husband, when we met, was not a rich man. Both are students, I am 18, he is 23. He looked after me beautifully for a year, keeping an eye on me. He took every mistake of mine condescendingly. He was a man of few words, and if he spoke, what he said was significant. He had masculinity and solidity. You could rely on him, hide behind his back. It was not scary to go anywhere with him. I remember I was pregnant, we were getting on a trolleybus, and some guy pushed me. The husband very calmly came up and picked him up by the scruff of the neck, like a kitten. And he left me."
In this marriage, Lyudmila Ivanovna had a son, Pavel. Everything seemed fine - a smart, talented husband, son... However, the marriage did not last long. The actress herself admits: “I left him, although I loved him very much. Something seemed to me then... Then I realized: it was a mistake... When you are young, it seems that you will meet many more such men and such love..."
In 1952, Khityaeva completed her studies and was enrolled in the troupe of the Gorky Drama Theater. Here the young actress very soon achieved success. Directors often entrusted her with the main roles, using her, as a rule, in the role of a lyrical heroine (however, there were exceptions). Lyudmila had a chance to play in the plays: “The Dance Teacher” (Lisena), “Good Hour!” (Galya), “Egor Bulychev and others” (Shurka), “Without naming names” (Galya), “Everything remains for the people” (Rumyantseva). In general, the actress was pleased with her position in the theater. As for cinema... Lyudmila Khityaeva somehow never even thought about cinema...
Lyudmila Khityaeva owes her debut on the silver screen to the famous writer Anatoly Rybakov. It was he who, having attended performances at the Gorky Drama Theater, drew attention to the talented young actress and recommended her to the director of the M. Gorky Film Studio, Isidor Markovich Annensky. He was just looking for a performer to play the main role in his film “Ekaterina Voronina”. Lyudmila successfully passed the audition and was approved.
Khityaeva had to create the image of a strong, purposeful woman, a port engineer, a true professional in her field, fighting for progressive production methods. The action of the film covered both wartime and post-war revival. Within such a framework, it was easy for an experienced actress to slip into cliches, but Khityaeva managed to avoid them. With all the listed qualities, Ekaterina Voronina remained a real woman, beautiful, loving, sincere, selfless. That is why her heroine was remembered and loved by the audience. And critics praised the work of the young actress.
During the filming of “Ekaterina Voronina,” Lyudmila Khityaeva met director Sergei Apollinarievich Gerasimov. Their meeting took place in the corridor of the M. Gorky Studio. Gerasimov immediately offered the young actress the role of Daria in the film adaptation of Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. Lyudmila Ivanovna later said: “I was taken aback. Daria... Violent, rebellious, as if woven from contradictions... Could I have thought that Daria was so close to my heart? After all, I had no idea that this was my role...”
It was impossible to refuse such a gift from fate, and immediately after “Ekaterina Voronina” Lyudmila Khityaeva went to the set of “Quiet Don”. Filming took place on the Don, in a real Cossack farm. Gerasimov was generally careful about realism, not missing the slightest detail of Cossack life. The same applied to acting: in order to create living, full-blooded images, the actors had to get used to this very life, to become Cossacks in spirit.
Khityaeva had a particularly difficult time: she had to integrate into the filming process from one of the most difficult episodes - crying over the body of her murdered husband Peter. At first this scene was not easy for the actress, but Gerasimov found a way out. Having learned that an old Cossack had died in a neighboring farm, he took Khityaeva to the funeral service. The actress was seated together with the old women wailing at the coffin and indicated: “Join us...” A couple of days later, Khityaeva was already screaming with all her might on the set...
The image of a mischievous, playful, cheerful Cossack woman with a tragic fate sunk into the soul of millions of viewers. The final scene was especially strong, where Khityaeva’s heroine says goodbye to life, slowly plunging into the waters of the calm Don. She is calm, and only in her eyes is the melancholy of a man in love with his native open spaces, with the clear sun and blue sky...
Soon after the triumph of “Quiet Don,” Lyudmila Khityaeva was invited to play the role of Lushka in the film adaptation of another Sholokhov work, “Virgin Soil Upturned.” The image is completely different, different from Daria from Quiet Don. That’s why many people had doubts about Khityaeva’s candidacy even during filming. The actress put all the skeptics to shame.
In one of his interviews, director A. Ivanov said: “Six actresses tried out for the role of Lushka. They all too diligently “played” the swagger and riotousness of the heroine. Khityaeva turned out to be that natural, splintering and attractive Lushka that Sholokhov probably had in mind.” Behind the external riotousness of the heroine, Khityaeva reflected her complex spiritual world, the real drama of a failed soul.
Evgeny Matveev, who played Nagulnov’s “Virgin Soil Upturned,” subsequently wrote: “Looking at the screen, one cannot help but agree that this is Sholokhov’s Cossack girl. So much authenticity, charm, down to the smallest detail everything in it is from the Don, everything from the village... It’s played so simply and easily and at the same time so deeply dramatic!”
Lyudmila Khityaeva demonstrated her ability to create deeply folk images in her next film, the melodrama directed by Tatyana Lioznova “Evdokia” (1961). The director herself described the main character of the film as “the soul and heart of Russia.” Lyudmila Khityaeva managed to bring all this to life on the screen. Using spare, discreet colors, she created the image of Evdokia Chernysheva, a middle-aged Russian woman who had experienced a lot. Evdokia is distinguished by inner calm, dignity, and spiritual chastity; she adopted five children and in this she found her maternal happiness.
The 60s were the heyday of Lyudmila Khityaeva’s creativity. The actress’s multifaceted talent allowed her to create diverse images on the screen. In the social drama “Everything Starts with the Road” - this is a simple worker, concrete worker, builder of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station Annushka, in the fairy tale “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” - the Ukrainian peasant woman Solokha, in the historical film “Moscow - Genoa” - a decisive and slightly rude commander of the Red Army platoon of Glasha, in the melodrama “Gypsy” (based on the story of the same name by the Don writer A. Kalinin) - the experienced village woman who survived the war, Klavdiya Pukhlyakova, in the comedy “The Cook” (film adaptation of the play by A. Sofronov) - brigadier Galina Sakhno.
With age, the actress switched to supporting roles. In the 70s, she starred in the films: “Russian Field” (Nadyonka, the second wife of Avdey Ugryumov), “Privalov’s Millions” (Antonida Ivanovna Polovodova), “Beyond the River - the Border” (Kira, wife of Captain Alexander Dolgov), “Man in civilian clothes" (SS officer Doris Scherer), "Finist - Clear Falcon" (Anfisa), "A dog walked along the piano" (Frosya Gromova, wife of the airfield commander). In 1982, Lyudmila Khityaeva played Mamelfa Timofeevna, the mother of the epic hero, in the film “Vasily Buslaev”. And the next year, 1983, Lyudmila Ivanovna was awarded the honorary title of People's Artist of the RSFSR for her many years of work.
After an unsuccessful first marriage, Lyudmila Khityaeva lived alone for a long time. She did not experience a shortage of fans, but she was in no hurry to start a new family. Lyudmila Ivanovna raised her son Pavel, who, by the way, did not follow in her footsteps - Khityaeva was categorically against his artistic future. Pavel graduated from the Institute of Oriental Languages and received an economic education.
In the 60s, Lyudmila Ivanovna married a second time. Her chosen one by profession was a urologist. They did not live together for long - their family life was cut short by the death of her husband in the early 70s.
In 1975, a new man appeared in the actress’s life. They did not register their relationship. As Lyudmila Ivanovna admitted: “I was scheduled twice, but didn’t want to the third time.” They lived in a civil marriage for 20 years and separated in 1996. “One fine morning I upped and left. Something began to not work out in our relationship. After 15-16 years of marriage, everything about my husband began to irritate me. I realized that we had a dead end ahead of him. After all, I stopped loving him,” says Lyudmila Ivanovna.
In perestroika and post-perestroika times, Lyudmila Khityaeva, like many stars of our cinema, remained virtually outside the cinema. During these years, the actress was actively involved in concert activities and traveled throughout the country.
The return to the silver screen took place in the new century. In 2003, Lyudmila Ivanovna starred in the film directed by Vasily Panin “Repentant Love” (based on Leo Tolstoy’s story “The Devil”) as Varvara Alekseevna Annenskaya, and five years later she played Baba Lisa in Timur Zoloev’s film “The Bread of That Winter.”
Latest Best Movies
Gypsy
Cook
Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka
Ekaterina Voronina
Filmography
- 1957 – “Ekaterina Voronina”
- 1958 – “Quiet Don”
- 1959 – “Virgin Soil Upturned”
- 1961 – “Evdokia”
- 1961 – “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”
- 1963 – “Monday is a hard day”
- 1973 – “A Man in Plain Clothes”
- 1975 – “Finist - Clear Falcon”
- 1978 – “A dog walked across the piano”
- 1979 – “The investigation is being conducted by the Experts. Shepherd with cucumber"
- 1980 – “Sailors have no questions”
- 1982 – “Vasily Buslaev”
- 1991 – “Mannequin in Love”
- 2003 – “Repentant Love”
- 2008 – “The Bread of That Winter”
Film career
After graduating from college, the young actress got a job at the Gorky Drama Theater, where she attracted the attention of writer Anatoly Rybakov, who contacted director Isidor Annensky and told him that he had found the main character for his “Ekaterina Voronina.” The plot of the film was based on Rybakov’s novel. Nonna Mordyukova also applied for this role, but the director approved Khityaeva, who played a strong-willed leader with a non-Soviet appearance in Annensky’s film. Lyudmila managed to show the beauty of her heroine. The audience was not interested in the party affiliation of this luxurious lady. Subsequently, Khityaeva played many strong-willed women in films.
Lyudmila Khityaeva in the film “Ekaterina Voronina”
An important part of the actress’s creative biography is connected with director Sergei Gerasimov. In his “Quiet Don” Lyudmila reincarnated as the Cossack girl Daria Melekhova.
Khityaeva almost died while filming the film.
In the scene where her character tries to commit suicide, Lyudmila had to swim a few meters along the river and then “drown”. At that time the girl did not know how to swim. Then the stuntman began to teach her this. The classes were not wasted, but during filming, due to strong excitement, the actress became confused and really went to the bottom. Khityaev was saved. Later she starred with Sergei Gerasimov in “Virgin Soil Upturned.”
In 1961, Tatyana Lioznova invited Lyudmila to play the main role in her “Evdokia”.
Lyudmila Khityaeva in the film "Evdokia"
A modest, taciturn, homely woman is the complete opposite of Khityaeva’s strong-willed and independent heroines.
At the premiere of the film, the actress had a conversation with the head of the USSR Ministry of Culture, Ekaterina Furtseva. The official asked Lyudmila: “How are you living?” “On the Gorky-Moscow train,” Khityaeva answered. “Well, you have to decide somehow...” said Furtseva.
In 1962, the actress moved to the capital and got a job at the Gorky film studio. Among the roles of the stellar period in the creative biography of Lyudmila Ivanovna, we should highlight Solokha from “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, field foreman Galina Sakhno from “Stryapukha”, Klavdia Pukhlyakova from “Gypsy”, Anfisa from “Finist - the Clear Falcon” and Mamelfa Timofeevna from “ Vasily Buslaev."
Lyudmila Khityaeva in the film “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”
In the eighties, Khityaeva acted rarely, as in the next decade. In 1983 she became People's Artist of the RSFSR.
In the new millennium, Lyudmila Ivanovna played Varvara Annenskaya in “Repentant Love” and Osmolovsky’s wife in “District Detectives.” At the same time, Khityaeva traveled around Russia with creative evenings, and in 2014 Channel One invited her to host the program “Your Business.” The co-hosts of the actress were Zinaida Kiriyenko and Angelina Vovk.
