Lyudmila Gurchenko
Lyudmila Markovna Gurchenko was a Soviet and Russian actress, singer and entertainer. She was given the honorary title People's Artist of the USSR in 1983.
Biography
Lyudmila Gurchenko was born in Kharkiv, USSR in 1935 as Lyudmila Gurchenko to Mark Gavrilovich Gurchenko and Yelena Aleksandrovna Simonova-Gurchenko. Her father came from a Russian peasant family, while her mother was from Russian nobility — both from around Smolensk.Before World War II they lived in a single room apartment on the ground floor at Mordvinovsky Lane No. 17. At that time, her parents worked at the Kharkiv Philharmonic Society. Mark Gurchenko was known to play the bayan. Gurchenko spent a part of her childhood with her mom in her native city during the German invasion of the USSR, while her father joined the army and, together with his concert brigade, survived the war. After the withdrawal of the German Army from Kharkiv, Gurchenko auditioned for the local Beethoven Music School, where she performed the song About Vitya Cherevichkin with gestures, after which she was accepted as an acting student.
She moved to Moscow, enrolling in the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. At age 21, after starring in Eldar Ryazanov's 1956 directorial debut, the musical Carnival Night, Gurchenko overnight achieved fame as well as celebrity status. Throughout the next two years she toured the entire country with her Carnival Night-inspired musical numbers, attracting crowds of fans.
The Soviet cultural establishment, however, deemed her style too western and too out of line with Soviet standards. She was accused of receiving wages above State-set levels as compensation for her shows. She became the target of highly critical articles in several influential Soviet periodicals, including Tap Dance to the Left and Dositheos Morals with Director Gennady Glagoliev and Director of Photography Igor Chepusov.
Gurchenko wrote a book about her life during German occupation in Kharkiv and about her life in the beginning of her Acting Career.
In 2010, she was awarded an Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd Class, one of the highest civil decorations in post-Soviet Russia. At the age of 70, she still performed and attended galas.
Personal life
Gurchenko was married six times, including a short-lived marriage to Joseph Kobzon between 1967 and 1970. She had one daughter, Maria from her second marriage, and two grandchildren as well as one great-granddaughter.On 14 February 2011, Gurchenko fell near her house and broke her hip. She was taken to the hospital and underwent an operation the following day. On 30 March her condition worsened due to a pulmonary embolism and she died that evening. She was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery after a civil funeral a few days later.
Selected filmography
' as LyusyaCarnival Night as Lena KrylovaA Girl with Guitar as Tanya FedosovaBaltic Skies as Sonya Bystrova- '
Discography
;Studio albums- 1979 — Бенефис Людмилы Гурченко
- 1983 — Любимые песни
- 1984 — Песни военных лет
- 1992 — Да, не верится!..
- 1994 — Люблю
- 1995 — Хорошее настроение
- 1996 — Что знает о любви любовь
- 2000 — Прощай, двадцатый...
- 2001 — Мадлен, спокойно!
- 2004 — Жизнь как дым...
- 2005 — Грустная пластинка
- 2009 — Чувство новизны
- 2009 — Музыка к фильму "Пёстрые сумерки"
- 2010 — Моё взрослое детство