Biography of Natalia Kustinskaya
Natalya Nikolaevna Kustinskaya is one of the most beautiful Soviet actresses, whom the whole world admired in the mid-1960s. She was called “Russian Brigitte Bardot”, “femme fatale”, “sex symbol of the USSR”, “golden-haired sorceress”, and the French magazine Candide included her in the ranking of the 10 most beautiful actresses on the planet.
Soviet film and theater actress Natalya Kustinskaya
She played a little more than twenty roles in films, making her debut in the drama “Gloomy Morning”, but, distinguished only by her power of charm, she was well remembered by the audience, especially for her roles in the comedies “Three Plus Two”, “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes Profession” and in the film epic "Eternal Call".
Fate generously rewarded her with all sorts of talents (she played the piano, had a velvety, chesty voice, expressive diction, and danced beautifully), but fate did not protect her from a series of tragedies, including the death of her son and grandson.
How the beauty Natalya Kustinskaya changed
The famous actress Natalya Kustinskaya has been an incredible beauty since childhood and enjoyed great success with men. According to her own recollections, the boys stood in her entrance and waited for her to come out.
Natalya Kustinskaya in childhood
Natasha was spoiled by attention even in her teenage years. She grew up confident in her irresistibility. The star's friends recall that she was always the best dressed, and many envied her.
Kustinskaya’s career was also successful. She began acting in films while still a student, although this was not usually allowed at VGIK. But an exception was made for Natalya. After all, Grigory Roshal himself invited her. So Kustinskaya played her first role in the television film “Walking Through Torment.”
Natalya Kustinskaya in childhood
After the debut, offers rained down on the girl from all sides. People were saying that a “new dramatic actress” had been born. Soon Natalya married director Yuri Chelyukin, but continued to excite the hearts of fans.
Kustinskaya gained wide fame for her role as Natasha in the film “Three Plus Two,” where she played along with Fateeva, Mironov and other famous actors. After this film, the beautiful Kustinskaya became known even in Europe, where she was called the “Soviet Brigitte Bardot.”
Kustinskaya and Fateeva in the film “Three Plus Two”
However, Natalia’s personal life did not always go well. Her first husband was very jealous of her and cheated on her. Her second husband, diplomat Oleg Volkov, was not the hero of her novel, and Natalya easily broke up with him when she met cosmonaut Boris Egorov.
With Egorov, Kustinskaya had a fairly happy and luxurious life for some time, they traveled abroad, went to receptions in the Kremlin, lived in a luxurious apartment in the center of Moscow, and drove expensive cars.
Life was in full swing until one day a misfortune happened to Natasha - she broke her leg. After this incident, misfortunes began to haunt her one after another. Having run down the stairs after the dog, Kustinskaya fell and suffered a fracture of the base of her skull. After a long treatment in the hospital, the actress found out that Egorov was cheating on her.
Kustinskaya's appearance has changed over the years
Natalya could not forgive her husband. She filed for divorce after 20 years of happy marriage. After that, Kustinskaya got married three more times, but she no longer had the same happiness as with Yegorov.
After dividing the property with the astronaut, Natalya remained in a small two-room apartment. All that was left was to remember the former luxurious life. A woman’s appearance changed over the years, her beauty faded, and fewer and fewer roles were offered. Kustinskaya became increasingly addicted to drinking.
Kustinskaya with her son Dmitry Egorov
Natalya's son Dmitry took a crooked path and got hooked on drugs. This led him to tragedy - the man died under unclear circumstances at the age of 32.
This completely broke Natalya and greatly damaged her health. She started drinking heavily and gained weight. There is nothing left of her former beauty and chiseled figure that could resemble the former actress.
Kustinskaya in youth and old age
Kustinskaya desperately did not want to grow old and fade, but nature took its toll. After 2006, she began appearing in various programs, talking about her life and regaining some of her former glory. But this did not bring happiness to the woman. She passed away in 2012 at the age of 74.
Childhood
The future movie star was born on April 3, 1938.
She was a native Muscovite and the only daughter in a friendly, fairly wealthy and respected family of pop artists. Father, Nikolai Andreevich, “a prince and a nobleman” (according to the actress), was a performer of funny couplets and feuilletons, as well as a tap dancer, performed with the humorous duet “Mironova and Menaker”. Mom, Maria Vdovenko, an extraordinary beauty, was a singer. Natalya Kustinskaya in childhood
The parents often took the baby to their concerts, and in their house they often had such famous personalities as Vadim Kozin, Lydia Ruslanova, Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Arkady Raikin, Viktor Knushevitsky, Isabella Yurieva, Ruzhena Sikora. So the girl grew up in a creative and constructive environment. She learned to sing, dance, read poetry early, attended a music school at Gnesinka to study piano (teacher E.F. Gnesin), and dreamed of becoming an actress.
Natalya Kustinskaya with her parents as a child
All friends and acquaintances unanimously said that with her unique appearance there was only one path - to become an artist. Already from the age of 14, many representatives of the stronger sex drowned in the bottomless pools-eyes of the nymphet, followed on her heels, waited near the house and on the landing, causing grumbling from neighbors.
Having received a certificate in 1955, Natasha submitted documents to the Vakhtangov Theater School and the Institute of Cinematography. She successfully passed the exams and entered both universities, despite the huge competition. Having chosen VGIK, the girl enrolled in a course for Moscow Art Theater actors, teachers and spouses Olga Pyzhova and Boris Bibikov.
Childhood and youth
Natalya Nikolaevna Kustinskaya was born in the capital in the spring of 1938. Her parents, although they were not stars of the first magnitude, managed to make their way to the very top. Nikolai Kustinsky was a famous tap dancer. Mom sang on the stage.
Natalya Kustinskaya with her parents
The family lived on Malaya Bronnaya and was famous for its hospitality. Their apartment was always noisy from guests whose names the whole country knew. Lydia Ruslanova, Klavdiya Shulzhenko and Isabella Yuryeva - these celebrities were not distant stars for Natalya Kustinskaya, but friends of her parents.
Kustinskaya grew up as a “greenhouse” child who did not need anything. Parents often took their daughter with them to concerts. Natalya was backstage, where her father was preparing for performances, together with Maria Mironova and Alexander Menaker.
Natalya Kustinskaya in childhood
The girl adopted all the best from her parents: beauty, good hearing and voice from her mother, artistry and a cheerful disposition from her father. She recited, sang and danced perfectly and without embarrassment. Natasha’s parents took her not to a regular school, but to a ten-year music school named after the Gnessins. She successfully graduated from the piano class.
It seems that the young beauty Kustinskaya had no other choice but to become an artist. She did not resist fate: she easily entered VGIK and the Vakhtangov Theater School. I chose the legendary VGIK. Here Kustinskaya studied at the course of the great Moscow Art Theater actors Olga Pyzhova and Boris Bibikov. In 1961, the certified actress began building her film career.
Carier start
Already during her student years, the actress made her film debut, although students were not allowed to act before receiving their diploma. The dean’s office had to make an exception to the rules at the insistence of film director Grigory Lvovich Roshal, who was looking for an actress for the role in the final part of the cult film trilogy “Walking Through the Torments” called “Gloomy Morning”. He saw Natalia at the institute and immediately appreciated her potential.
Natalya Kustinskaya in her youth
The girl got the role of Marusya, a revolutionary who fell in love with officer Vadim Roshchin (played by Nikolai Gritsenko), and found herself on the same stage with such stars as Rufina Nifontova, Nina Veselovskaya, Evgeny Matveev, Nonna Mordyukova. Critics positively assessed her first film work, and she received new film offers.
In the same 1959, she played in the film “Stronger than a Hurricane.” In 1960-1961 she could be seen in the key role of the forester’s daughter Jadvisi in the two-part film adaptation of Yakub Kolas’s work “On the Rostans”. She also embodied the image of the main character Nastya in the film drama “Girl Years,” which was released in 1961.
Natalya Kustinskaya in the film “Stronger than a Hurricane”
During the same period, she hoped to play the cook Tosya in the film “Girls” by her husband Yuri Chulyukin. He promised her the role, but in the end gave it to Nadezhda Rumyantseva. According to rumors, the director was jealous of his wife and did not want her popularity. According to the official version, Natalya’s face was considered too “thoroughbred” for the role of a village girl.
To smooth out the situation, Chulyukin offered his wife the role of Anfisa. However, the proud beauty refused to participate in the film. Instead, she went to Sevastopol to film the film Shore Leave, where she brilliantly portrayed Katya, the school friend of the main character of the film Zhenya (Ariadna Shengelaya), adding to the cast of popular performers, which included Lev Prygunov, Vladimir Vysotsky, Vasily Makarov.
Natalya Kustinskaya in the film “Shore Leave”
In 1962, the actress was invited to play the main role of Tony in the film adaptation of Daniil Granin’s story of the same name “After the Wedding.” Its filming took place in Leningrad.
All-Union success
A year later, the comedy “Three Plus Two” was released, which had a fabulous success and made the actress famous. The film told the story of three bachelor friends (Evgeny Zharikov, Andrei Mironov, Gennady Nilov), who came to the sea on vacation as “savages” and discovered that their place on the shore was occupied by two charming girls in swimsuits. They were played by two Natalyas - Kustinskaya and Fateeva. Natalya Kustinskaya in the film “Three Plus Two” After the film was released, every day the actress received a lot of letters with declarations of love. And during a visit to Paris, where she presented the painting, her photo appeared on the cover of a glossy magazine with the caption “Soviet Brigitte Bardot.”
Natalia Kustinskaya and Natalia Fateeva
The next film with the star’s participation was released only three years later, in 1965. It was the comedy “Sleeping Lion”, where she got the role of projectionist Natasha, and her colleagues were such screen masters as Konstantin Sorokin, Sergei Filippov, Mikhail Pugovkin, Alexey Smirnov, Tamara Nosova.
Natalya Kustinskaya in the film “Sleeping Lion”
There are cases when Kustinskaya lost good roles for various reasons. For example, she had to refuse the offer to star in “Prisoner of the Caucasus” due to the fact that she had already agreed to participate in the romantic film “Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha.” But, having contracted pneumonia before filming, she was unable to play in this film.
In 1966, her husband cast her in a key role – flight attendant Alena – in the comedy melodrama “Royal Regatta”. However, this work of his did not receive the same high praise as “Girls” or the debut film “The Unyielding.”
Natalya Kustinskaya in the film “Royal Regatta”
At the beginning of 1970, the actress played only two main roles - in the films Ten Winters in One Summer and A Spring Tale. In 1973, she could get an interesting role in the film adaptation of F. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Player” by Alexei Batalov. The film director was not indifferent to her and offered her the role, counting on her favor. She did not accept his advances and lost the role.
Natalya Kustinskaya and Leonid Gaidai
The last great success in Natalya’s career was the role of the passion of the hero Mikhail Pugovkin in the film adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s play “Ivan Vasilyevich” entitled “Ivan Vasilyevich changes his profession.” Then there was filming in the TV movie “Crash”, the drama “Trainee”, and the melodrama “Chauffeur for One Flight”. In 1983, she reminded a wide audience of herself by appearing in the third season of the series “Eternal Call” and playing Polina, the daughter of the gendarme officer Lakhnovsky (Oleg Basilashvili).
Film career
Despite the fact that her debut role was small, directors quickly drew attention to Kustinskaya. In the film “First Tests” she was given the main role. After graduating from college, she starred in several more films. People's fame came after the release of the comedy "Three Plus Two", where Natalya played one of the leading roles.
After that, fans flooded her with letters and gifts, her photos were sold in print kiosks, and the actress was called “the Soviet Brigitte Bardot” abroad. Kustinskaya was considered one of the most beautiful women in the country; in France she was included in the world's top ten most beautiful actresses.
N. Kustinskaya in the film “Three Plus Two”
Despite such a resounding success, the actress’s further career can hardly be called successful. Interesting roles passed her by every now and then, and she was forced to refuse some herself. So, in “Prisoner of the Caucasus” she was offered the main role, but Kustinskaya refused L. Gaidai because she had already promised to star in V. Motyl’s film. However, suddenly falling ill with pneumonia, she missed out on both roles.
Later, filming followed in several films, including the comedy film of her first husband “Royal Regatta”. She managed to show her dramatic abilities in the multi-part film “Eternal Call”. In 1973, Natalya appeared in a small but very bright role in the popular film “Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession.”
Film offers soon became less and less interesting, and the roles became more insignificant. The actress had a great opportunity to get into world cinema when she was cast in the leading role in the German film “The Magic Mountain”. However, the head of the KGB forbade Kustinskaya to film abroad. In addition, she never asked for roles, never sought connections, and always turned down inappropriate offers to advance her career. And directors most often considered her only from the point of view of her appearance, offering only the roles of flighty beauties.
In total, during her career, the actress played in more than two dozen films, her last role was played in the 1989 film “Svetik”. She also participated in the dubbing of foreign films, voicing the characters of twelve films, and played in the Studio Theater of a film actor. In 2008, a documentary film was made about Kustinskaya’s life.
Kustinskaya as director Yakin’s girlfriend, 1973
Latest roles
In the mid-1980s, Natalya received an invitation to Munich to film the heartbreaking drama “The Magic Mountain” based on the rather complex work of the same name by Thomas Mann, but she was not allowed to go abroad and even domestic directors stopped inviting her to act. For these troubles, the actress blamed the KGB and Fateeva, who allegedly took revenge on her for her broken marriage with Yegorov (read more about this below in the “Personal Life” section).
In the late 80s, Kustinskaya stopped acting
Then she suffered health problems. First, she broke her leg after unsuccessfully jumping from a height during a performance at the Film Actor's Theater. Then she fell on the steps in the entrance and received a serious skull injury when she was taking her St. Bernard dog for a walk, and he rushed to the exit door. She no longer had major roles.
Personal life of Natalia Kustinskaya
The movie star got married 6 times. For the first time - at the age of 19. Then director Yuri Chulyukin, whom Natalya met at VGIK, became her husband. They did not have children, although both really wanted to become parents. Nevertheless, Natalya was able to get pregnant, but lost the child due to a conflict with Marina Strizhenova. The woman was terribly jealous of Kustinskaya for her husband Oleg and threw an absurd scene of jealousy, which had tragic consequences.
Natalya Kustinskaya and her husband Yuri Chulyukin
During the filming of the film “Three Plus Two”, Zharikov, Mironov and scriptwriter Sergei Mikhalkov could not resist the charms of the green-eyed beauty, who had a magical charm. But their attempts to win her favor were unsuccessful - she remained faithful to her husband. But, as it turned out during the filming of “Royal Regatta,” he had another woman. Having learned about this, the artist immediately left him and did not want to forgive when he tried to bring her back.
A huge number of men dreamed about her, including such celebrities as Vladimir Vysotsky, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Muslim Magomayev. According to rumors, Brezhnev and even Andropov admired her. In the period 1968-1970. her husband was Vneshtorg employee Oleg Volkov, and in 1969 she met cosmonaut Boris Egorov, at that time the husband and father of the child of her friend Natalya Fateeva.
Natalya Kustinskaya and Boris Egorov
According to legend, Kustitskaya won the heart of the space explorer by playing his favorite composition by Sergei Rachmaninov on the piano – the melodic and fantasy “Elegy”. Soon he declared his love for her, and in January 1970 she gave birth to a son, Dima (according to rumors, not from her husband, but from Borisov). Fateeva, apparently guessing about their romance, also cheated on her husband on the set of the film “Songs of the Sea” in Bucharest. As a result, Egorov broke up with her.
The lovers began to live together. However, Kustinskaya’s husband, Volkov, attempted to commit suicide, and the actress was forced to return to her family. She was torn between passion and a sense of duty. Then Boris showed persistence - he stayed at her apartment for three days, ringing the doorbell every 15 minutes. Oleg was forced to regret and let his wife go.
Natalya Kustinskaya with her son
They were happy together with Egorov for almost 20 years. The man gave his last name to Kustinskaya’s son and raised him as his own. The couple separated in 1989 - the former cosmonaut had a mistress.
Dima grew up as a problem child and started drinking at the age of 13. At the same time, his acting talent showed up early. After his role as Dima Somov in the film “Scarecrow,” Natalya was advised to develop Dima in this direction. But Egorov, who knew the underbelly of the acting profession well, was against it. He insisted that Mitya enter MGIMO as an economist.
Natalya Kustinskaya and her son Dmitry
During his student years, Dmitry met a young lawyer and proposed to her. In 1991 they had a boy. Alas, the grandson of Natalia Kustinskaya was born with hydrocephalus and lived only 7 months. Dima's beloved began to drink, and soon the marriage broke up.
Meanwhile, Natalia’s personal life was developing successfully. Her new chosen one was MGIMO professor Gennady Khromushkin. The movie star's fourth marriage lasted 12 years until his husband died of an infection in 2002.
Natalya Kustinskaya and Gennady Khromushin
During the same period, Kustinskaya also lost her son, who died under strange circumstances. In the last years of his life, Dmitry unsuccessfully tried to set up his business, earned extra money by translating from English and suffered from a feeling of uselessness and uselessness. His new lover Olga - it was her who Natalya blamed for the death of her son for the rest of her life - used drugs and got Dmitry addicted to them. On the eve of his death, the young man quarreled with his mother and went to a party.
Neighbor Vladimir Maslennikov helped the actress find the strength to survive these tragedies. They got married in 2004, but 5 years later he also passed away. Natalya Nikolaevna no longer acted in films, she was ill, suffered from prolonged depression, and abused alcohol.
Natalya Kustinskaya in the last years of her life The last official husband of the star in 2010 was a certain Stas Vanin, who wished to take her last name. A man 30 years younger gained the trust of a 72-year-old and already very sick woman. Her friends intervened in time, and this marriage was dissolved in court in 2012.
Tamara Semina about the character of Natalya Kustinskaya: “She gave a damn about everything”
Natalya Kustinskaya // Photo: frame from the film “Natalya Kustinskaya. Beauty is a curse"
Natalya Kustinskaya would have turned 80 on April 5. She was called the Soviet Brigitte Bardot, she was beautiful and talented, but her fate was tragic. She was married six times and outlived four of her spouses - three of her former spouses died, one disappeared without a trace. She had to bury her closest people - her son and newborn grandson. For the anniversary of the actress, Channel One prepared a documentary film “Natalya Kustinskaya. Beauty is like a curse,” which was attended by acquaintances and friends of the artist.
They remembered the star from different sides. Some, like Gennady Nilov (who played Sundukov), his partner in the film “Three Plus Two”, who made Kustinskaya an absolute star, spoke kindly and with affection: “She worked incredibly easily, there was something childish about her - a very friendly person...” - he said. Others, like Nikolai Karachentsov’s wife, Lyudmila Porgina, assessed it neutrally, only voicing the facts. And Tamara Semina, Kustinskaya’s classmate, revealed her true essence. Tamara Petrovna, who will also celebrate her 80th birthday this fall, said that Natalya Kustinskaya from her youth was selfish, mercantile and indifferent to others. In addition, the woman did not hesitate to take apart the appearance of young Kustinskaya, who was considered ideal in Soviet times.
Tamara Semina // Photo: frame from the film “Natalia Kustinskaya. Beauty is a curse"
“At the institute they say: “Oh, hello, how are you?!” And she passed by - “Oh, bye.” She doesn’t give a damn how you are doing... And so all your life. Why did you ask? She was always the best dressed, and of course we were terribly jealous. She let us carry her things, in fact, she was a kind person. But over the years... She did not miss hers and looked for benefits everywhere. She is simply a goddess - she did not see herself any other way. Natasha, if you look at it anatomically, what about the face? So what is next? There is no waist, it sticks out from behind - you can see it in Tula... But she convinced everyone, and try, don’t say that she is a beauty - that’s all!” — said Tamara Semina.
Natalya Kustinskaya // Photo: frame from the film “Natalya Kustinskaya. Beauty is a curse"
Natalya Kustinskaya had everything to become a star - looks, talent, a prosperous family. And she achieved fame and money, but by the end of her life she was left alone. Tamara Semina believes that the reason for Kustinskaya’s misfortunes is her character. A classmate of the actress openly spoke about how unfairly Natalya treated others. She remembered that Kustinskaya took her husband away from her partner in the legendary comedy “Three Plus Two,” Natalya Fateeva. Fateeva was married to cosmonaut Boris Yegorov and Kustinskaya did everything possible to get the man to divorce and marry her. When Egorov met Kustinskaya, she was also married and had a 9-month-old son, Mitya, in her arms. Kustinskaya told her friends how unhappy Yegorov was with Fateeva and gossiped that the cosmonaut’s wife was having an affair with her film partner. Egorov believed, divorced and married Kustinskaya.
Natalya Kustinskaya and her third husband Boris Egorov // Photo: frame from the film “Natalya Kustinskaya. Beauty is a curse"
“She didn’t notice how she hurt a person, what things she said. So much injustice, so much greed. We simply didn’t recognize her,” said Semina.
Kustinskaya buried her only son and one-year-old grandson // Photo: frame from the film “Natalia Kustinskaya. Beauty is a curse"
Of the six marriages, family life with Egorov was the longest and happiest time - they were together for almost twenty years, but Kustinskaya could not forgive Egorov for having an affair on the side and divorced him and exchanged the apartment. But according to friends, she hoped until the last that he would return. Egorov did not return, Kustinskaya got married again. But subsequent marriages brought her nothing but disappointment. She didn’t notice his age, didn’t see how her son went downhill, became a drug addict and eventually died under mysterious circumstances - he was found on the street and pronounced dead from a heart attack, although there was a noticeable wound from the blow on his temple. Kustinskaya drowned her grief in alcohol and sometimes called her friends to support her. Tamara Semina said that she called her too and asked for help: “She didn’t listen to anyone. I even tried to help her, but not for long - she didn’t listen to anyone, only herself...”
The last years of Natalya Kustinskaya’s life were difficult to recognize // Photo: frame from the film “Natalya Kustinskaya. Beauty is a curse"
Natalya could not cope with the trials that befell her. After the death of her son, she became depressed. In 2010, she fell in the bathroom and injured her spine, and two years later, diagnosed with pneumonia, she was hospitalized, fell into a coma, and died on December 13, 2012, without regaining consciousness.
Death
The last close friend of one of the first beauties of world cinema was the poet Alexei Filippov. They worked together on her memoirs. And a volunteer from an Orthodox organization, Andrei Aseev, witnessed the last days of his life. He looked after her and prepared food.
Funeral of Natalya Kustinskaya
In December 2012, in a coma, Natalya Kustinskaya was hospitalized, suffered a stroke and soon died. She was buried at the Kuntsevo cemetery next to her son.
Illness and death
Natalya Kustinskaya was seriously ill in her old age. After the tragic death of her son, the actress plunged into severe depression. She has changed a lot. The former beauty has disappeared forever. The woman suffered from osteoarthritis, moved little and gained weight.
Natalya Kustinskaya in recent years
In 2010, she fell in the bathroom and injured her spine. It was even harder for Natalya Nikolaevna to move now.
At the very end of 2012, Kustinskaya was taken to the Botkin Hospital. She was diagnosed with pneumonia when she was already unconscious. A few days later I had a stroke. The artist passed away on December 13, 2012. Death overtook her at the age of 74. As she bequeathed, she was buried next to her son at the Kuntsevo cemetery.
