The actress is 90 years old. Vera Vasilyeva: My husband knew that I loved someone else and quietly waited
Vera Vasilyeva Born into a simple family: dad is a driver, mom is a housewife. The whole family lived in a communal apartment in a small room. Little Vera had to wash, clean, darn clothes, and even cook dinner. So days dragged on, the girl grew up, but nothing changed in life, still the same communal apartment, still the same neighbors. But when she came home to this tiny room, she dreamed about the theater, about the stage, about the spotlights, the girl spent all her wealth, the pennies accumulated from dinners on tickets that let her into that extraordinary, romantic, colorful, completely different from her monotonous life world.
And then one day, either adolescence took its toll, or the despair was really so strong, but Vera, deciding that nothing would change in her life, took a razor in her hands and ran it over her hand several times. There was little blood, it barely touched any veins, but it was seriously frightening. She immediately ran for a bandage and hid the traces of her weakness under it. She told her parents that she was injured. And then Vera Vasilyeva swore to her best friend: “I will still be an artist!” And she kept her word.
Vera Vasilyeva in the play based on the play “Intervention” by Lev Slavin. Moscow Academic Theater of Satire, 1967. Photo: RIA Novosti / Miroslav Murazov
She became an actress, got into the theater, and was in great demand in the cinema. The young beautiful actress was popular with her fellow actors and senior directors. She herself could not resist one of them. Her affair with directed by Boris Revenskikh lasted for 7 years. The young girl listened to every word of the master. He, too, was in love at first, and then gradually moved away, immersed himself in rehearsals, in which other actresses took part. Vera decided to cut to the quick; she did not beg, beg, or return. She just took it and left. Forever.
Vera Vasilyeva during the musical television show “Benefit”, 1978. Photo: RIA Novosti / Rybakov
For my only husband in my entire life, my feelings were completely different, calmer, measured, and real. She did not sigh, did not suffer, did not cry because of him. Perhaps it was precisely this regularity of feelings, reality, the feeling of real support in life that attracted Vera Vasilyeva to actor Vladimir Ushakov. The future husband, looking adoringly into the eyes of the bride, vowed: “You will no longer do housework, there are other people for that.” He paid the former cook to clean his dorm room and prepare lunch. Anna Ivanovna, who was a little blind and often left food scraps, scraps and scraps in the common kitchen. So Vera still had to do something around the house in secret from her husband, despite the presence of Anna Ivanovna.
Vera Vasilyeva and Vladimir Ushakov, 1953 Still from the film "Dowry Wedding"
The young people got married only 7 years later. And even then it’s a strong word – “got married.” They just went and signed at the registry office, without a veil, without the Mendelssohn march and even without rings.
But the wedding still took place, even though it was already “golden”. Vera Vasilyeva in a chic dress and her husband Vladimir Ushakov in an elegant suit celebrated the occasion with their closest friends and colleagues at the House of Actors. This time, the bride and groom brought rings to the wedding. For all these years, Vera Vasilyeva never remembered her first love and was always faithful to her husband. Although once she did give him a reason for jealousy, but not of her own free will. Once the troupe of the Satire Theater went on tour. In one compartment all the stars of the scene gathered, among them Vera Vasilyeva and Andrey Mironov. Mironov decided to make a joke, began to stealthily diligently court Vera Vasilyeva, and sometimes glanced sideways at her husband. And for good reason. Suddenly Vladimir grabbed his imaginary rival by the chest and kicked him out of the compartment. It is not known what kind of conversation took place in the train vestibule, but after it Andrei Mironov and Vladimir Ushakov became bosom friends.
Vera Vasilyeva (Countess Almaviva) in a scene from the play directed by V. Pluchek based on the play “Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro” by Pierre Beaumarchais, 1978. Photo: RIA Novosti / Rybakov Vera Vasilyeva and Vladimir Ushakov lived together for 55 years. Vera Kuzminichna always noted that she never had a conflict with this man, who became her destiny for more than half a century. He simply did not give her a single reason for conflict. The reason for the final and irrevocable separation could only be his illness. Now Vera Kuzminichna was caring for her husband. For 15 years she took him to hospitals, worked, earned money for medicine, for doctors, supported him, tried to encourage him as best she could. In these days, weeks, months, years, she was not an actress, she was a wife, a stone wall, and she was also the eyes of her husband: after all, at the end of his life, Vladimir was completely blind.
The third heart attack was the last for Vladimir Ushakov. The wife managed to call an ambulance, the doctors even took him to the intensive care unit, but they failed to save Vera Vasilyeva’s husband. After the funeral, Vera Vasilyeva disappeared. In the literal sense of the word. She closed herself off from friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. The only person she allowed near her was girl Dasha, “goddaughter,” as Vera Vasilyeva herself calls her.
Photo: www.russianlook.com / Anatoly Lomohov
They met when Ushakov was alive. The famous actress got to the hospital to see her husband by public transport; Vera Kuzminichna could not spend money on a ride. There are heavy bags in your hands, the road is long. The only person who decided to help was that same Dasha. She accompanied Vera Vasilyeva to the hospital, they started talking, and as a result, gradually the random companion became an assistant, a friend, and an adopted daughter for the actress. Dasha’s daughter Vera Kuzminichna herself now calls her granddaughter, and Dasha her daughter. Actress Vera Vasilyeva has a family again.
Today, September 30, the magnificent actress Vera Vasilyeva celebrates her 90th birthday. For the anniversary, we recall the most striking moments from the interview that Vera Kuzminichna gave to the editor-in-chief of OK! To Vadim Vernik a couple of years ago
Photo: Irina Kaydalina
Actor's life from the outside it seems so happy, wonderful: flowers, people remember, love, thank... But the second side, which, perhaps, even leaves a much stronger mark on the actor’s soul, is the sadness that there is no work, or that you do, you are not interested, or life does not work out in the theater and cinema.
You know, I don't think so highly of myself, as perhaps those around you. Therefore, when at the Satire Theater they gave me roles - seemingly the main ones, but in passing plays (you know, there were Soviet plays where cute girls existed for the plot) - and so, those roles did not please me much, but I thought that I I'm not capable of more. I told myself: well, you never know what I dream about, but they see me like this.
Here for the public I am Verochka Vasilyeva, smiling, “singing on the porch”, “The Marriage of Figaro”, something else - and everyone thinks that I’m such a sweet postcard. But life is much more complicated, I also experienced enormous disappointments and enormous pain.
Somehow I bear my sorrows alone and do not tire anyone with sorrows
My future husband, Volodya Ushakov, played my fiancé in Dowry Wedding and was in love with me. For two or three years, while we were playing this performance, he looked after me, every second he made me understand that he loved me and that I could not be happy with that other person. And then came a rather dramatic moment in my life with “that person.” And I agreed to marry Volodya. That's why I got married...
It seems to me too that I am, in general, not weak. Somehow I bear my sorrows alone and do not bore anyone with sorrows. Well, I was born this way. I didn't educate myself. I think that if I was raised by anything, it was the theater, books and, perhaps, the modest life of my parents.
No force can make me angry. If something really disgusts me, I just step aside and it’s as if I don’t exist. And for close people, in general, I can be difficult.
People's Artist of the USSR Vera Vasilyeva seems to know the secret of longevity.
She still plays no less today than in her youth, does not take medications and enjoys life. This year the actress will turn 90 years old. In an interview, Vera Kuzminichna recalled the brightest moments of her creative journey and introduced her to her goddaughter.
- Vera Kuzminichna, this year you are celebrating an anniversary. Are the Satire Theater already preparing for the event?
Yes. In September I will be 90 years old, and in connection with this, the theater staged the play “Fatal Attraction” with me in the leading role. The premiere took place the other day and I was very excited! You know, I have never been as busy in my life as I am now. I'm happy that I work hard. I really like every role I play. This is such a rare happiness in acting. 90 years is not yet a reason to think about age.
I live by my profession. She gives me emotions. The soul does not fall asleep, but remains young. And everything else is drawn to such a soul. I really don’t want people to look at me with sadness and say: “Oh, what it was like and what it has become.” For the sake of the audience, I want to leave the feeling that old age is not so scary. If I were in oblivion, I would probably give up. But my viewers and their love give me strength.
- How do you prefer to spend your free time from the theater?
I only rest when I have a vacation. We have to go somewhere. In July I will go to the seaside in Croatia. I've already vacationed there and really enjoyed it. I will go with my goddaughter Dasha. I'm glad that I won't be alone, but in good company. True, I don’t like vacations - two months of summer vacation are torture for me. I like to work.
- Tell us about your goddaughter Daria.
I met Dasha when my husband passed away. Dasha began to support me and take care of me. When Dasha’s mother died, I became her godmother. Dasha tries to ensure that her vacation coincides with mine. I enjoy spending time with her and her little daughter. They are like a daughter and granddaughter to me. This is great happiness! Dasha is a wonderful person, she is a very smart, kind, well-mannered girl.
- Vera Kuzminichna, can you remember the brightest moments in your career?
Life is very big. The brightest moments for me were those roles that I really love. You know, no one in my family was connected with the theater. My father was a driver, and my mother kept house. We didn't live well. I had three sisters and a brother. The first time I went to the theater was at the age of 8. My neighbor in a communal apartment took me to the opera house, and she was so shocked by the beauty that she didn’t want to dream of anything other than being an artist. I really enjoyed visiting both the theater and the opera. Music and beauty captivated me. I started going to the theater library, to the drama club, sang in the choir, and studied biographies of actors. My entire childhood was focused on the theater.
You have twice won the Stalin Prize. How did you feel, because you became the youngest laureate?
I understood all the responsibility, and therefore I was not so much happy as scared. I thought that I couldn’t be at the level that I unexpectedly had in life. I was in my third year when I received the award.
- Is it true that Joseph Stalin personally included you on the list?
I don’t know if this is true, but that’s what I was told by people who supposedly knew. They said that Joseph Vissarionovich allegedly noticed me in a movie.
- Vera Kuzminichna, your opinion about modern cinema.
I love theater more than cinema. That's why I forget many of the modern films. Theater is the main thing for me. I hardly watch TV either. I only turn on the “Culture” channel, I love deep philosophical programs. Among the latest films, I watched “The Dawns Here Are Quiet.” I liked a lot, but there were moments that I didn’t accept.
- Which of the current actors could you single out?
This is the wonderful Zhenya Mironov, Chulpan Khamatova. They are great artists. Khabensky is wonderful. There are actually a lot of them, I just don’t have time to watch modern films and productions.
- What advice could you give to young people who are just starting to build their career in the theater?
The main thing is to be patient. For example, I have a very patient character. Life was not always sweet, I remember how I grieved that there were no roles, but I endured, waited and hoped, I also played in the provinces. The main thing is to work and be prepared for any unexpected offer. Luck also plays a big role. One single chance can change your entire destiny. It's a shame when no one needs a talented person.
- Have you often encountered luck in your career?
Any offer that was made to me was an accident. At least at the beginning of the journey, only later it was the work of reputation.
Dossier
Vasilyeva Vera Kuzminichna
Education: Moscow City Theater School.
Family: husband - actor Vladimir Ushakov (06/01/1920 - 07/17/2011). Have no children.
Career: Vera Vasilyeva’s filmography includes more than 30 films. She played over 60 roles at the Satire Theater. Twice laureate of the Stalin Prize (1948, 1951).
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Actress Vera Vasilyeva turns 90 / The famous actress played in more than 50 productions of the Satire Theater
The actress walked towards family and professional happiness the hard way - in order to eventually find her one and only and become a popular favorite. “You want to live at any age,” said the actress, “and dream about new roles too.” On her 90th birthday, Vera Vasilyeva plays a play at her native Satire Theater. On this topic:
Vera Vasilyeva. “The Legend of the Siberian Land”, 1947
Vera Vasilyeva likes to say that she has an extremely boring biography, since she worked in the same theater all her life and lived with the same husband. This, however, does not prevent the actress from celebrating her 90th birthday as a star and living legend. She began her acting career with the leading role in Ivan Pyryev’s film “The Tale of the Siberian Land”, for which she received the Stalin Prize and all-Union fame. Throughout her life, Vasilyeva acted quite a lot in films, played memorable roles, but devoted her main energy to working on the stage of the Satire Theater. Vera Vasilyeva has been associated with this theater since 1948. She made her debut in the role of Lisa in the vaudeville “Lev Gurych Sinichkin”, played in famous performances based on Mayakovsky’s plays, the countess in “The Marriage of Figaro”, Anna Andreevna in “The Government Inspector”. She still remains the leading actress of the theater. Vera Vasilyeva enjoys a special attitude from the public: they loved her immediately as soon as she appeared on the screen and stage, and they continue to love her directly now, in the days of her big anniversary. Vera Vasilyeva was born into a simple family: dad is a driver, mom is a housewife. The whole family lived in a communal apartment in a small room. Little Vera had to wash, clean, darn clothes, and even cook dinner. So days dragged on, the girl grew up, but nothing changed in life, still the same communal apartment, still the same neighbors. But when she came home to this tiny room, she dreamed about the theater, about the stage, about the spotlights, the girl spent all her wealth, the pennies accumulated from dinners on tickets that let her into that extraordinary, romantic, colorful, completely different from her monotonous life world.
2.
And then one day, either adolescence took its toll, or the despair was really so strong, but Vera, deciding that nothing would change in her life, took a razor in her hands and ran it over her hand several times. There was little blood, it barely touched any veins, but it was seriously frightening. She immediately ran for a bandage and hid the traces of her weakness under it. She told her parents that she was injured. And then Vera Vasilyeva swore to her best friend: “I will still be an artist!” And she kept her word.
3.
She became an actress, got into the theater, and was in great demand in the cinema. The young beautiful actress was popular with her fellow actors and senior directors. She herself could not resist one of them. Her romance with the director Boris Revenskikh lasted for 7 years. The young girl listened to every word of the master. He, too, was in love at first, and then gradually moved away, immersed himself in rehearsals, in which other actresses took part. Vera decided to cut to the quick; she did not beg, beg, or return. She just took it and left. Forever.
4.
For my only husband in my entire life, my feelings were completely different, calmer, measured, and real. She did not sigh, did not suffer, did not cry because of him. Perhaps it was precisely this measuredness of feelings, reality, the feeling of real support in life that attracted Vera Vasilyeva to the actor Vladimir Ushakov. The future husband, looking adoringly into the eyes of the bride, vowed: “You will no longer do housework, there are other people for that.” He paid the former cook to clean his dorm room and prepare lunch. Anna Ivanovna, who was a little blind and often left food scraps, scraps and scraps in the common kitchen. So Vera still had to do something around the house in secret from her husband, despite the presence of Anna Ivanovna.
5.
The young people got married only 7 years later. And even then this is a strong word - “got married”. They just went and signed at the registry office, without a veil, without the Mendelssohn march and even without rings.
6.
But the wedding still took place, even though it was already “golden”. Vera Vasilyeva in a chic dress and her husband Vladimir Ushakov in an elegant suit celebrated the occasion with their closest friends and colleagues at the House of Actors. This time, the bride and groom brought rings to the wedding. For all these years, Vera Vasilyeva never remembered her first love and was always faithful to her husband. Although once she did give him a reason for jealousy, but not of her own free will. Once the troupe of the Satire Theater went on tour. In one compartment all the stars of the scene gathered, among them Vera Vasilyeva and Andrey Mironov. Mironov decided to make a joke, began to stealthily diligently court Vera Vasilyeva, and sometimes glanced sideways at her husband. And for good reason. Suddenly Vladimir grabbed his imaginary rival by the chest and kicked him out of the compartment. It is not known what kind of conversation took place in the train vestibule, but after it Andrei Mironov and Vladimir Ushakov became bosom friends.
7.
Vera Vasilyeva and Vladimir Ushakov lived together for 55 years. Vera Kuzminichna always noted that she never had a conflict with this man, who became her destiny for more than half a century. He simply did not give her a single reason for conflict. The reason for the final and irrevocable separation could only be his illness. Now Vera Kuzminichna was caring for her husband. For 15 years she took him to hospitals, worked, earned money for medicine, for doctors, supported him, tried to encourage him as best she could. In these days, weeks, months, years, she was not an actress, she was a wife, a stone wall, and she was also the eyes of her husband: after all, at the end of his life, Vladimir was completely blind.
8.
The third heart attack was the last for Vladimir Ushakov. The wife managed to call an ambulance, the doctors even took him to the intensive care unit, but they failed to save Vera Vasilyeva’s husband. After the funeral, Vera Vasilyeva disappeared. In the literal sense of the word. She closed herself off from friends, acquaintances, and colleagues. The only person she allowed near her was girl Dasha, “goddaughter,” as Vera Vasilyeva herself calls her.
9.
They met when Ushakov was alive. The famous actress got to the hospital to see her husband by public transport; Vera Kuzminichna could not spend money on a ride. There are heavy bags in your hands, the road is long. The only person who decided to help was that same Dasha. She accompanied Vera Vasilyeva to the hospital, they started talking, and as a result, gradually the random companion became an assistant, a friend, and an adopted daughter for the actress. Dasha’s daughter Vera Kuzminichna herself now calls her granddaughter, and Dasha her daughter. Actress Vera Vasilyeva has a family again.
10.
People's Artist of the USSR Vera Vasilyeva, who turns 90 on September 30, will play the main role in the play "Fatal Attraction" on the stage of her native Moscow Satire Theater on her anniversary.
11.
“The role is big and difficult,” says the birthday girl. “I play in heels, change shoes, change clothes a dozen times during the play. But such a performance is the best gift for the anniversary. In general, in my old age, somewhere after 70, I was lucky play the kind of roles that I dreamed of when I was young."
12.
The creative life of Vera Vasilyeva began not on stage, but on the screen. While still a student at the theater school, she starred in Ivan Pyryev’s film “The Tale of the Siberian Land”, received the Stalin Prize and became famous throughout the country.
13.
“At first I was not nominated for the award,” recalls the actress. “However, Stalin, who always watched all the films, allegedly asked: “Where did they find this beauty?” They answered that Vasilyeva was only a third-year student. And he, allegedly, said: “She played well, we should give her a prize too.” I was instantly included in the list, and I was among the winners. I don’t know how true this is, but that’s what they told me,” the actress noted.
14.
Soon she played the main character in "Dowry Wedding", and was again awarded the Stalin Prize. So, at the age of 25, Vera Vasilyeva already had two government awards.
15.
Later she practically did not act in films, but after graduating from college she came to the theater as a famous actress. Vera Vasilyeva entered the Moscow Theater of Satire on March 27, 1948 and was enrolled in the troupe as an actress of the 2nd category.
16.
“However, I never loved satire and didn’t even understand it,” Vasilyeva unexpectedly declares. “I was full of sentimental novels and dreamed of Larisa from “Dowry.” Valentin Pluchek, who then headed the Theater of Satire, apparently sensed the young actress’s reluctance to the satirical genre and didn’t overload her with work.
17.
Nevertheless, over the 67 years that Vera Vasilyeva has been serving in the theater, she has accumulated several dozen roles, many of which have gone down in the history of Russian art. This is Olga from “A Dowry Wedding” (the play has been shown about 1 thousand times), and Countess Rosina in “The Marriage of Figaro”, and Vyshnevskaya in “A Profitable Place”, and Anna Andreevna in “The Inspector General”, and Domna Platonovna in “Warrior” ".
18.
However, there were times in the actress’s life when she did not receive roles in her theater for years and played in the provinces. “For ten years I played Ranevskaya in Tver, for twelve - “Guilty Without Guilt” in Orel,” Vera Kuzminichna listed. “And there was also “Whim” - at the New Drama Theater in Moscow and “Strange Mrs. Savage” at the Obraztsov Puppet Theater. Only this it really nourished me."
19.
Now, despite her advanced age, Vasilyeva is happy that she is in demand. “You want to live at any age,” says the actress, “and dream about new roles too.”
20.
21.
Vera Vasilyeva was born on September 30, 1925 in Moscow (according to other sources - in the village of Sukhoi Ruchey, Tver province). Her father was a driver, her mother a housewife.
22.
In 1948 she graduated from the Moscow City Theater School (later became part of the State Institute of Theater Arts; now the Russian University of Theater Arts - GITIS). She studied on the course of Vladimir Gotovtsev.
23.
Since 1948 she has been an actress at the Moscow Academic Satire Theater. Vasilyeva's debut was Liza in the vaudeville "Lev Gurych Sinichkin" (based on the vaudeville by Dmitry Lensky, as edited by Alexei Bondi). She played in more than 50 productions of the Satire Theater, worked with directors Valentin Pluchek, Andrei Goncharov, Boris Ravenskikh, Mark Zakharov, Alexander Shirvindt. Among the actress's most famous works are Olya in Nikolai Dyakonov's "Dowry Wedding", Countess Almaviva in the comedy "Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro" by Pierre de Beaumarchais, Anna Andreevna in Nikolai Gogol's "The Inspector General", Celia Peachum in Bertolt Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera" , Domna Platonovna in “The Warrior” based on the story by Nikolai Leskov, Camellia in “Requiem for Radames” by Aldo Nikolai and others. Currently she is busy in the Satire Theater’s performances “Fatal Attraction”, “Talents and Admirers”, “Molière (The Cabal of the Saint)” and "Ornifle".
24.
She also performed a number of dramatic roles in productions of other theaters: she played Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (Tver Drama Theatre), Kruchinina in Guilty Without Guilt by Alexander Ostrovsky (Oryol Drama Theatre), Mrs. Savage in The Strange Mrs. Savage by John Patrick (Puppet Theater named after S.V. Obraztsov), Countess in “The Queen of Spades” by Alexander Pushkin (Maly Theatre).
25.
Film roles
Her first film work brought Vasilyeva wide fame: while still a student, she played Anastasia in Ivan Pyryev’s musical drama “The Tale of the Siberian Land” (1947). In total, the actress’s filmography includes more than 30 films, including “Chuk and Gek” (1953), the film version of the play “Dowry Wedding” (1953), “Adventures of a Dentist” (1965), “The Legend of Tila” (1976), “ Minors" (1976), "Carnival" (1981), "Dandelion Wine" (1997). She voiced cartoons: “The First Violin” (1958), “Firefly Number 6” (1965), “Umka is Looking for a Friend” (1970), “The Wizard of the Emerald City” (1974), “The Adventures of Vasya Kurolesov” (1981).
26.
For a long time she worked in the Central Social Welfare Commission of the All-Russian Theater Society (now the Union of Theater Workers), helping actors who found themselves in difficult life situations.
27.
People's Artist of the USSR (1986). She was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, Honor (1995), “For Services to the Fatherland” IV (2000) and III (2010) degrees. Twice laureate of the Stalin Prize (1948, 1951).
28.
“At the age of 14, I almost did something stupid. After reading a book, I decided: it’s better to die young. took a razor and cut her vein twice,” said AiF People's Artist of the USSR Vera Vasilyeva.
Scar as a keepsake
No one in our family has ever had anything to do with the theater. Dad worked as a driver, mom did housework. We lived very poorly, the seven of us in one room on Gusyatnikov Lane, in the Myasnitskaya area. Mom and dad, three sisters, brother and me. But one day Anna Yulievna, a neighbor in our communal apartment, took me to a matinee performance of the opera “The Tsar’s Bride.” And I, an 8-year-old girl, saw this beauty - velvet, chandeliers, an orchestra, everything sparkles, like in a fairy-tale palace, I heard divine music... Then I decided: either I will be an artist, or I will not live. I went to the House of Pioneers, to the drama club, to the choir, signed up for theater libraries...
At the age of 10, I was already singing arias I heard on the radio. For this, in the yard they called me Chaliapin. I didn’t know that there was such a singer, but I thought that they were teasing me because of the hat that I never parted with. I remember well how the choir of our House of Pioneers performed at the Bolshoi Theater (they said that he himself was sitting in the hall Stalin).Me and my girlfriend Katya Rozovskaya(we are still friends with her, it’s scary to think how many years!) together we dreamed of a stage. Plans were made - one crazier than the other. We dreamed of running away from home and entering some provincial theater as someone, and then there was some unexpected incident, a debut, like Ermolova, and a theatrical life full of adventures will begin...
As a result, I became an artist, Katya became a theater expert. Now she already has a grandson, I only have the Theater. Only roles born by me. But this is not so little.
What was I like then? Quiet, dreamy, very romantic. At the age of 14 I almost did something stupid. After reading a book, I decided: it’s better to die young than to live and gradually become disillusioned with life. I took a razor and cut my vein twice, then put my hand in a warm basin in the hope that I would die quietly, beautifully. Fortunately, I came to my senses in time. But in memory of this childhood stupidity, two white lines remained on my left hand in the bend of my elbow.
Pyryev and stockings
The fact that I, a third-year student at the theater school, received such a lucky lottery ticket as the painting “The Tale of the Siberian Land” is not of any special merit to me. I think my appearance at that time played a big role. I was plump and rosy-cheeked. My assistants noticed my good-natured face Pyryeva. They came up and asked: “Girl, do you want to act in a movie?” I wanted it so much that my whole family didn’t sleep a wink all night - we kept thinking and wondering what to dress me in before the screening. As a result, I showed up at Mosfilm in my sister’s dress made of blue silk, tied with a wide belt, wearing makeup and with unimaginably fluffed curls. Pyryev, without saying a word, sent me to the make-up artists. The first thing they did was comb me. She looked at herself in the mirror and was horrified: her eyes were small, like a well-fed pig, her pigtails were thin. They will never take you to the cinema! But it turned out that this is exactly what was needed. Dressed in the costume of the heroine - Nastya Gusenkova. They brought me to Ivan Alexandrovich again. He looked at me so intently and commanded: “Bring two simple stockings.” Brought. Pyryev took them and rolled them into two balls. And, without the slightest hesitation, he stuck a stocking into my cleavage in those places where lush breasts should be. “Well, everything is fine now! Otherwise you won’t understand anything.” I began to look like a busty woman who covers teapots. This one was approved immediately. I remember when filming was already underway, Pyryev often reminded: “They planted everything on Vasilyeva? Then we can begin!”
“The Legend of the Siberian Land”, 1947. Still from the film
I perceived the triumph of the painting “The Tale of the Siberian Land” in 1948 as a miracle of miracles, and to some extent I was even frightened when they gave me the Stalin Prize for it. As I was later told, Joseph Vissarionovich, who always watched all the pictures, saw me on the screen and asked: “Where did they find this beauty?” To which he was told that she was just a third-year student, and therefore was not nominated for the award. Stalin briefly ordered: “She played well, we should give her a bonus.” And I was instantly included in the list.
I don't even know if I was happy. Probably there was. Although I always believed that both the award and the enormous fame that fell on my young, inexperienced head were not entirely deserved. I just ended up in good hands with the director. By the way, apparently, this is exactly what Pyryev himself thought. One day he directly told me: “It’s time for you to thank me.” And he made an appointment at the Moscow Hotel. I, suspecting nothing, went. I remember Ivan Alexandrovich sitting on a chair and saying: “Well? Will you thank me? I answer: “Thank you so much!” And he: “That’s not how they thank you! Come here!" And he started pestering...
Having difficulty breaking free, I ran to the door and heard after me: “You will never act in films again!” “Well, I don’t care,” I thought. He kept his word - not to shoot me. But I’m not offended by Ivan Alexandrovich, I forgave everything a long time ago. After all, whatever one may say, Pyryev gave me not only a role - life. If it weren’t for meeting him, I might have been sent to hell somewhere after graduation. And so... I was immediately invited to the Satire Theater to play the main role - Lizochka Sinichkina in the play “Lev Gurych Sinichkin”. Can you imagine?!
Actress of the Moscow Theater of Satire Vera Vasilyeva in the artistic room. 1956 Photo: RIA Novosti / V. Malyshev
901st wedding
The play “Dowry Wedding,” which premiered on March 12, 1950, on the one hand, gave me the greatest love of my life, on the other, it gave me a stage partner and a loving husband, with whom we lived happily for 54 years.
The director was a young talented director Boris Ivanovich Ravenskikh. They found out about our affair with him in the theater almost immediately, and I didn’t know how to hide it. For almost seven years I lived with complete readiness to give him my life, if necessary. But he was married to actress Lilia Gritsenko.
Chief director of the Moscow State Academic Maly Theater, People's Artist of the USSR Boris Ravenskikh, 1975. Photo: RIA Novosti / I. Zotin
The success of "Dowry Wedding" was phenomenal! The performance was performed 900 times, was awarded the Stalin Prize, and was filmed. Volodya Ushakov was my “fiancé Maxim” both on stage and in films. I saw that his feelings for me had long gone beyond the stage and screen, but I couldn’t help myself. Meanwhile, Boris Ivanovich was called to head the Maly Theater... And all these years I lived as a religious recluse with the hope that he would finally be freed and understand whether he needed me in his life. She suffered terribly, but did not dare to remind her of her love even once. Sometimes at night, at about two o'clock, when all the residents of our communal apartment were fast asleep, the phone would ring, and I would run barefoot down the corridor. In a whisper, shivering from the cold, she answered the mocking question: “Are you awake? Are you waiting? - “Yes, I’m waiting...” He felt guilty and was annoyed with me for remaining patient and faithful.
Vera Vasilyeva and Vladimir Ushakov in the film “Wedding with a Dowry”, 1953
The last straw was the premiere of his play at the Maly Theater on December 4, 1956, which Boris Ivanovich forbade me to attend. I did not go. She lay in her cell in complete darkness and could not sleep. How painful and lonely I was that night... In the morning Volodya Ushakov called me and, as if feeling that I was on the verge of death, he asked, as he had asked many times, when I would agree to be his wife. And then I answered: “I agree.” Volodya immediately rushed over, happy, in a car littered with flowers... I was drowning in flowers. Then we went to the hostel of the Satire Theater on Malaya Bronnaya, where, in addition to Volodya, we lived Anatoly Papanov with my wife Nadya Karataeva, Tatyana Ivanovna Peltzer and others, and he announced the news of our wedding to everyone. Although there was no wedding as such. I remember Tolya Papanov brought half a liter, others took the food into the kitchen - what did anyone have? And we signed at the registry office seven years later. There were no dresses or rings - they just came in and signed.
But all 54 years there was an absolutely ideal existence. We never had a serious quarrel. And there was not a single case that I did something with my eyes, thoughts, or touches for which I could be ashamed. Volodya treated me so lovingly, gratefully and tenderly that I had the feeling of being completely in love. This is very important for an actress, and indeed for any woman. And over the years of family life, my feelings for him only grew. It used to be that I would play a performance and run home like crazy. I especially fell in love with him in recent years, when he was ill. Three heart attacks, a stroke, blindness, and could not walk without help. But he was so noble, he never whined or complained. Always looking for a reason to laugh, to be happy for me. I miss him very much!
Alexander Shirvindt as Count Almaviva and Vera Vasilyeva (right) as the Countess in the play The Marriage of Figaro. Satire Theater, 1977 Photo: RIA Novosti / Vitaly Arutyunov
Went "to the side"
I wouldn’t say that I had a close relationship with anyone in the theater. But very good - with many. Tolya Papanov treated me very tenderly, he pronounced my name in a special way: “Ve-e-rochka!” As I sometimes said to a kitten: “My little darling!” I thought he was an amazing artist. But with Andryusha Mironov We probably communicated more closely. He treated my husband very well, and Volodya adored him. At the theater they did their makeup in the same room. Andryusha was always frank with him, even talking about his novels. Through him we became friends with his parents - Maria Vladimirovna Mironova And Alexander Semyonovich Menaker. Their death, as well as Andrei’s early departure, became an insane tragedy for us. My husband just cried out loud...
My successful roles in the Theater of Satire are very dear to me - Countess Almaviva, Olga in “Dowry Wedding”, Anna Andreevna in “The Government Inspector”, the warrior in Leskov’s play. But there was a time when I didn’t play anything interesting for a long time in my native theater, and I suffered greatly from this. And for the only time in my life I dared to ask for a role. Then, after the conflict, she left our theater Tanya Vasilyeva, who rehearsed Ranevskaya in The Cherry Orchard. I came to Valentin Pluchek and said that I dream about this role. He looked like he was an idiot: “What are you talking about, Vera! Olya Aroseva wants to play Nina Arkhipova... I’d rather take the young one!” I was very worried then: probably, as an actor, he doesn’t like me, he thinks that I don’t have the breed, temperament or sin that is so necessary for Ranevskaya... Years later, when he became seriously ill and no longer worked, I I came to visit him, and Valentin Nikolaevich suddenly said: “Vera, I’m very guilty before you and I’m greatly tormented by this. Sorry!"
Vera Vasilyeva in the musical television show “Benefit”, 1978. Photo: RIA Novosti / Rybakov
But I still played Ranevskaya, albeit “on the side” - at the Tver Academic Drama Theater. Then, with joy and pleasure, she went to Orel to play Kruchinin in “Guilty Without Guilt”, played in the plays “Whim” - at the New Drama Theater in Moscow and “The Strange Mrs. Savage” - at the Obraztsov Puppet Theater. These jobs saved me, because what I had dreamed of since my youth, for which I came into the profession, came true. Otherwise, I would simply think that I didn’t have enough talent, I didn’t have enough destiny.
In 2015, before my (scary to say!) 90th birthday, I received a fabulous gift - the role of Irma Garland in the play Fatal Attraction. She played an elderly actress who does not want to come to terms with her age. We can say that this is to some extent about me - after all, I myself hardly feel my age.
What are my secrets? The fact of the matter is that there are none. I’ve never done exercises - I can’t stand it. Since childhood, I have been absolutely unsportsmanlike. I don't have any diets. But I don’t allow myself to gain weight - I stay at the same weight my whole life. However, I eat everything. After the performance, which is practically at night, I like to treat myself to something delicious. I don’t go out unless I paint my eyes and lips. I watch my posture; it is posture that reveals age. You may be surprised, I don’t even know anything about medicine. And thank God! I think the most important thing that keeps me in shape is the theater, my roles, and the love of the audience. They still recognize him on the street. Sometimes I’m walking and suddenly: “Oh, hello! Are you Vera Vasilyeva? - "Yes". - "Be healthy! Happiness to you!” It is very nice. In general, everything worked out for me: the profession I dreamed of, I had a wonderful loving husband, and at the end of my life I had a goddaughter, Dashenka, who cares about me so touchingly that not every natural daughter will do this about her mother. I am 90 years old and I am absolutely happy. What am I dreaming about? Firstly, so that I can see a lot of interesting things. But most of all, I still dream of a good role. And I already have something interesting in mind. About love!