Natalya Gundareva last interview. Natalya Gundareva. Actress. Chapter "Don't celebrate your anniversary!" - fragments of interviews from different years. Why do you look so good

Late 90s. Summer. Natalya Gundareva flies on tour to Israel for a few days. The exhausting 40-degree heat on the first day brings her to a critical state. The audience has already filled the hall, and Natalya is lying behind the scenes and the doctors categorically insist on her hospitalization. And when the issue was finally resolved, she suddenly said: “No, I will play.”

“Natasha came out and played, and it was so talented, sparkling... It was some kind of miracle, she played to an ovation, and with absolute improvisation. She went backstage - and that’s it... Then they took her to her room, and we spent the whole night they were on duty there and watched how she was doing,” recalls Igor Kostolevsky. That time everything worked out fine. But there are dozens of such stories in the life of actress Gundareva, because the main thing for her has always been work. She sacrificed a lot for her.

After playing the role of a mother of many children in the film “Once Upon a Time 20 Years Later,” Natalya Gundareva received bags of letters from all over the country. The women admitted that looking at her, they decided to give birth and thanked Natalya for the example she set for them. Although the actress herself did not have children. In the mid-70s, Natalya could have become a mother, but at that moment she was offered several leading roles in theater and cinema for the first time, and Gundareva terminated her pregnancy. Later, in one of her interviews, Natalya admitted: “As long as I don’t feel the need to have children, I don’t feel their absence, theater replaces them for me.”

For almost 30 years, Natalya Gundareva, without exaggeration, reigned at the Mayakovsky Theater. The theater was everything to her - home, family, favorite hobby, although Gundareva became an actress by accident. Natalia's parents divorced when she was still little. On the advice of her mother, in her final grades she transferred to evening school and went to work as a draftsman. Then I entered MISS. But Gundareva was prevented from becoming an engineer by actor Viktor Pavlov, whom she met at an amateur theater. He persuaded Natalya to try to enter the Shchukin School. Since her mother was away at that moment, Natasha made up her mind and easily passed the competition of 250 people per place.

IN documentary film viewers will see rare footage of archival video - excerpts from her interview, a performance by student Natalya Gundareva at the theater school, and will hear memories of classmates and teachers about her. Everyone who knew Gundareva as a student unanimously affirms that she was already a great actress.

After the release of the film “The Singles Are Provided with a Hostel,” people’s rumors got Natalya Gundareva and Alexander Mikhailov married. Just as later everyone was confident in her romances with Sergei Shakurov and Viktor Proskurin. But all these actors were her lovers only on the screen. And in life, Natalya, falling in love, gave herself entirely to this feeling, without a trace. She was married three times. Immediately after graduation, Gundareva was invited to audition for director Leonid Kheifetz, and Natalya captivated him instantly. She was 24, he was 38 years old. Soon they got married in the Beijing restaurant. The bride was without a veil and in a green dress, but she was completely happy and loved.

Six years later, Kheifetz and Gundareva divorced, and Natalya began an affair with a theater colleague, actor Viktor Koreshkov. She played love scenes with him in the play “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, and then married him. But the second marriage lasted less than a year. Gundareva was 38 years old when she married actor Mikhail Filippov. Before their relationship began, they worked together for many years, but each had their own personal lives. In his book dedicated to Natalya, Mikhail writes: “We met at the right time, it’s a pity that it’s late.” Gundareva lived with Filippov for 19 years; she called Mikhail her only husband. In 2001, when Natalya fell ill, Mikhail literally did not leave her side. He protected me from annoying journalists and helped me learn to walk again.

In one of her last interviews, Natalya Gundareva said: “My soul is cheerful, it’s true, but all the impressions that I bring to the stage are associated with torment for me. Life is still a tragedy, because the ending is tragic: we die. .. It seems to me that from the inside all people are unhappy and lonely...". Natalya Gundareva passed away after living only 56 years. But this was enough for her to remain in the memory of millions of viewers great actress and a wonderful person.

Some participants in the film talk about their personal impressions of communicating with Natalya Gundareva.

Svetlana Nemolyaeva, actress:

Natasha, in terms of her external and internal characteristics, is a Russian beauty. She was very self-sufficient, independent, the only one to whom the main director of the theater never raised his voice. This was the subject terrible envy, because they shouted at all of us, but never at her. As soon as I started working, I immediately started a notebook, rewrote my role in it and wrote down all the director’s comments and notes. If Goncharov began to argue with her, she would say: “No, no, Andrei Alexandrovich, I have it written down that you told me to go in that direction and take such and such a stage.” In general, it was individuality, personality and great, great talent. In the theater, many people remember her, and it is impossible to forget her.

Dmitry Brusnikin, actor, director:

Natasha was such a unique actress and irreplaceable person that her place is still vacant and no one will ever take it. She didn’t have any role, she could be funny, beautiful, sexy, and whatever she wanted. She was truthful, lifelike - that's all. I worked with Natasha in “Petersburg Mysteries” - a long series directed by Leonid Pchelkin and Vadim Zobin. And then Pchelkin and I together made the series “Salome”, where Natasha played as an actress, and I was already the director. She was absolutely obedient, never got sick star fever, she was busy on site and was always ready to work. She loved order and precision and was super professional. There used to be a tradition: when the actor finished filming, he set the table. In general, no one followed this rule anymore, but Natasha continued to do it. She set the tables, invited lighting technicians, sound engineers, directors, actors, extras to the table, and everyone celebrated her last day of filming. She was a queen...

Prize at the IX International Film Festival in Bulgaria (1981)

Prize of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia "Nika" (1990)

Prize "Diamond Crown" All-Russian festival"Constellation" (1990)

Prize at the Montreal International Film Festival for Best Actress (1990)

Golden Eagle Prize for Best Actress in the film Rostov-Papa (2002)

Awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (1998)

According to the results of polls by the magazine "Soviet Screen", she was recognized as the best actress of 1977, 1981, 1985 and 1990.

The actress had her first stroke on July 19, 2001 at her dacha. She was cutting vegetables for dinner and, as she later recalled, her eyes suddenly grew dark, as if she had fallen through somewhere. She was found lying on the floor by her husband, actor of the Mayakovsky Theater Mikhail Filippov, who called an ambulance. The actress lay in a coma for ten days - a critical period, usually after this people do not fully recover. But the doctors did everything possible, and Natalya Georgievna was confidently on the mend. She asked the doctors when she would be allowed to return to her favorite theater.

Colleagues were looking forward to our recovery. Management of the Theater named after. Mayakovsky started talking about making a play with her voice-over. The artistic director of the theater Artsibashev offered Gundareva the position of his assistant...

On August 28, 2002, a year after the stroke, doctors allowed the folk act to celebrate her birthday...

The doctors were always very cautious in their prognoses, but gradually Gundareva regained her speech, visited every day Gym, began to walk a little and even planned to write a book of memories. Fearing to worry Natalya Georgievna, the death of her beloved mother Elena Mikhailovna, which occurred literally a few weeks after her daughter’s hospitalization, was intensively hidden from her for a whole year.

“For all four years, Natasha was looked after by nurse Ira, who became a member of the family. She became attached to Natasha and was always ready to please her in any way, friends say. - Natasha loved to talk to her and affectionately called her Plush. They made fun of each other and laughed. And it seemed that for a while the bad things were forgotten... Due to the illness, Natalya Georgievna’s character deteriorated a little. Sometimes she was offended by the nurse if she left her alone in the room for five minutes, by her husband, who was leaving for filming, but called his beloved wife on his mobile every hour. He refused many roles to be with his wife. Sometimes Natasha could be capricious because of her illness. Suddenly she wants someone to urgently bring her her best expensive fur coat and take her out for a walk in it. What can you do - she’s a woman! They brought a fur coat, tried to anticipate any desires, worrying about the dear person.”

The actress lacked communication. All my life I’ve been used to being the center of attention, but here I’m left as if cut off from the world. Therefore, she did not like to stay at home for a long time and insisted that she be taken to the hospital. As she herself said, to her “get-together”, because she made friends with both doctors and nurses.

“Natalya Gundareva always remembered that she was a woman, loved to flirt, and her personal doctor Timur Mansurovich paid her compliments and called her his favorite patient. She felt comfortable here,” the nurses say. - Sometimes Natalya Georgievna seemed to lose clarity of mind, she forgot where she was, asked strange questions, she imagined something... But when consciousness returned, she read a lot (she was especially fascinated by the Bible, which became her favorite... book), was cheerful, and solved crossword puzzles with ease.”

In the fall of 2004, Natalya Georgievna suddenly became worse.

Over the past few months, the actress’s illness has progressed smoothly, without complications. Doctors were concerned about heart arrhythmia - a consequence of a sedentary life on medications.

Gundareva was sometimes sharp and irritable.

“But a week ago, Natasha suddenly affectionately hugged nurse Ira and said a lot of kind words, confessed her love, and thanked her for her patience. Ira was moved to tears,” says a friend of the actress. “And Natalya Georgievna suddenly warmly asked her husband for forgiveness that because of her illness he had suffered so much, as if... she had a premonition of trouble.”

On May 7th, Natasha’s relatives took her to the dacha for the holidays. This was usually done when she felt good. And the doctors allowed the patient to change her environment for a few days.

Then Gundareva returned to the hospital again. She told the nurses that she dreamed that she was flying in her sleep.

“What happened happened to us suddenly, no one expected anything bad! The day before, Natasha’s husband visited her, they spent time together, then said goodbye, everything was fine! - recalls a friend of Natasha’s nanny. - I know, Natasha said that she was afraid to die at home: they say, I will feel bad, and you will not be able to provide help at the right time. She endured so much pain and was afraid. I was afraid to die in agony.”

Death came suddenly: according to some sources, a blood clot that had blocked the pulmonary artery broke loose; according to others, the cause of death was another stroke.

Natalya Gundareva died at the age of 57 in St. Alexius Hospital on May 15, 2005.

When she was buried, the funeral service at the Mayakovsky Theater had to be extended by an hour and a half. Thousands of people lined up along the entire Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street right up to the Manezh certainly wanted to say goodbye to their favorite. According to the ancient acting tradition in last way she was greeted with applause.

Natalia Gundareva was buried at the Troyekurovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

Interview with Gundareva for TNT channel:

— How do you, such a pleasant woman in all respects, make ill-wishers?

“I think this is because I reserve the right to tell the truth.” I either don’t say anything at all, but if they ask me, I don’t think it’s possible to be disingenuous in any way. Well, who likes the truth... There is such a wonderful joke about this, when one actor asks another: “You know, I only trust you, so tell me, how did I play the premiere?” - “Should I tell you honestly?” - “Honestly, because only you will tell me the truth!” - “Honestly, it sucks...” - “No, well, I’m serious...” Maybe I’ll seem very arrogant, but no talented people, which would not have ill-wishers.

- How do you react to them?

- I believe that I have one way to deal with all the negativity around me - this is to do my job well. I don't know any other way to take revenge. If I manage to play a role decently, I consider that this is my revenge. I won’t pour salt under the threshold.

— Feelings of envy are not inherent to you at all?

- It is inherent, but it is different. For example, I see a woman who is well, stylishly dressed, with gorgeous hair. Then I see her a second time and understand that this is her way of existence. This is how she is. Or I watch some actress in a role and suffer: why not this role for me, how I would like to play it... Why do I think so? Because she plays well too. Maybe if I had just read this role, I wouldn’t have seen it. And I saw it because she played wonderfully. And then I feel sad, envious that I don’t have such a role or one similar to it.

— What role do you dream about?

— I never dreamed of roles. Of course, I choose when they offer me 10 scripts. But the director sees me in this role and not in any other. And here, no matter how much I wanted to play Juliet, he sees me as a Nurse, and I have nowhere to go. You see, I always tried not to make guesses, tried not to dream. I thought that the coming day would bring me something, that God would not leave me, the viewer would not forget me, and somehow my crooked path would still lead me onto a bright path.

— Is the acting world aggressive?

- No matter how much you try to show everyone what a self-sufficient person you are, in demand, if you sit at home or do some trivial things, if you run around some small things, parties, these dens...

— What do you call nativity scenes?

“I call this kind of pastime a nativity scene.” Empty, it brings nothing to either the soul or the mind. And the body simply physically wears out. It seems to me that such a crazy false active existence harms actors. This flickering, and meaningless, no one needs, gives nothing to anyone, does not bring anything... When people forget about their profession - this is where, in my opinion, the most tragic moments of an actor’s existence begin.

— Do you like to philosophize?

“I have lived my life, and I reserve the right to think.” I have a time when I walk from my house on Tverskaya to the theater. I walk 35 minutes to the theater. This is what I call “my time”. At this time I answer my questions. I ask myself questions of different kinds. Who will be the president? How prices will increase. About working on the role. I try to answer all these questions for myself. When I answer them, then, in principle, meeting with a journalist is no longer difficult. It’s as if I’ve already thought about everything. This is not philosophy. With the power of thought, I force myself, when there are so many dens around, not to go there, not to waste myself. I'm kind of saving myself for something. Maybe I will remain an unfilled vessel - well, that means that’s my fate. But I still strive for a full life. I understand that the time of my life is running out. Well, it’s like I’ve lived more than half my life. And I don’t want it like this, off the shoulder: ah, now I’m going to all the trouble - here they invite me to this bar, here are gifts, here they will give me a fountain pen, here they will give me chewing gum... Well, I can’t afford it. Because I love myself very much, and I love myself so directly, from morning to night. And because of this, I don’t allow myself so much!

— Are you inventing your own world?

— I don’t confuse life with theater. Life is one thing, and I believe that life is beautiful because it is life. And the theater is beautiful because it is a theater. It seems to me that it is a great misfortune for some actors when they confuse these two concepts. They can’t play anything on stage anymore, but in life you just can’t get enough of them. But you get tired of these very quickly.

- Don't you like merry people?

- Time has scattered people so much, rocked them so much... Everyone is like fragile boats on these waves of the sea of ​​\u200b\u200blife... So I turn on some program and watch. And now everyone is joking, joking, everything is sad, but everyone is joking. Is it all so funny to you? When a person goes on stage and starts telling jokes - a professional pop performer! Yes, he is a joker, but not to the same extent as to tell jokes about the back seat. Well, we probably need to prepare some kind of program. People laugh, but how can I tell you... I believe that during life we ​​rise, our task is to rise, not to fall. Otherwise, why go somewhere? I don’t understand this: why is there such a wild stupidity of people sitting in front of the TV? We used to listen to what emphasis the announcer would put, and we learned from them. Well then, let’s all say: “doors”, “linol”, let’s burn Dahl’s dictionary on Red Square, come on!

-Can you lie?

- No, it’s difficult to lie, your eyes start to wander. 28 years in the theater, it would seem, like an artist, but as soon as I lie, I feel the pupil trembling and the eyes shift. Well, of course, I won’t tell a cancer patient that he is hopeless, and if I have a friend after sleepless night comes and says: oh, I look so bad today - and she needs to perform... I say: what are you, it’s normal, I was even surprised, you said you didn’t sleep until three, but you look very decent! But I understand that she needs support now... But in general, I can’t lie.

- Well, you didn’t lie when you were a child?

- Mom caught it once. I went on what was called an extended day. On Saturday we were taken to the cinema, and at home they gave me 50 kopecks. I collected them, went to GUM and ate ice cream, with a mound, very tasty. And one day my mother caught me doing this. We got off the bus together, although I, in theory, was supposed to ride on the other side. "Where have you been?" Unfortunately for me, my mother was also at this film, which it seemed like I was at. There was such a scandal at home! Until I screamed like crazy. (She never hit me, she once hit me on the butt with her palm - I cried for three hours - it was such an insult and humiliation of my human dignity! It was scary, I didn’t want to live.) And then I screamed: what, I can’t even eat ice cream ?! My pain spoke to me. (Laughs.)

— Were you spoiled as a child?

“They never made fun of me, they didn’t call me Natasha.” Natasha - that's all.

— Who were you named Natasha after?

“I left the maternity hospital with this name.” Like any newborn, I had this huge head. But they say that my mouth was even bigger than my head, and I screamed accordingly. And when they rolled in the stroller with the children for feeding, my mother said that the nanny in the maternity hospital simply threw me at her with the words: take your Natasha! When my mother left the maternity hospital with me, I was already responding to this name, and my father said: well, let him be Natasha.

- Why do you look so good?

“And there’s nothing left for me to do.”

— Are you in great shape, have you managed to lose weight?

“And I eat myself, from morning to night, so I’ve lost weight.”

- But seriously, diet?

- Well, I made some efforts, but not cruel ones. I didn’t take pills, I think it’s harmful (the so-called Thai pills were in fashion then. - E.N.). And so I “died” on something. I lost weight for a long time—more than a year.

— Don’t you eat buns, any sweets?

- Come on, I really love puff pastries with cherries. When one of your friends comes, they say: how come, you seem to be losing weight? What about buns? I answer: stupid, what is not clear is my vitamin: B1, B2...

— How do others react to your updated appearance?

“Ill-wishers’ jaws drop when they see me.” And my friends are very happy.

— Do you travel and relax a lot?

— Well, my husband and I are going somewhere, but I can’t say that I’m a traveler. I once sailed on a ship. I thought I would go crazy in this closed space, where the same people were. I'm a very sociable person, but I need a place where I can be alone. In general, I believe that whoever God wants to curse, he rewards with loneliness. But I love privacy, I need places where I can retire.

— Have you ever thought about leaving the theater?

— When we were rehearsing the play “Running,” there was a conflict. I played Lyuska. The runs had already begun, but Andrei Aleksandrovich Goncharov made very few comments to me. And now there is such a decisive run-through, a dress rehearsal, and after that he suddenly tells me - he makes comments to everyone, comments, and then he says to me: I have nothing to say to you at all, you rehearsed monstrously today, you have some kind of home direction. I say: what home directing... while I’m in this church, I pray to this God. He doesn’t listen - we are in two voices. He suddenly began to say: don’t scare me, that you will leave me (this is after the words “while I’m in this church”). And he started yelling at me, and I got up and left. I went to change my clothes, came home and thought: I’ll leave the theater if he talks to me like that... Well, how can it be - for 20 days of the run he didn’t make a single comment (I would have reconsidered), and suddenly dress rehearsal Am I doing everything wrong?! There are failures, but not to the same extent. I thought, thought: no, I decided, I’ll still find the strength in myself and tomorrow I’ll come to the rehearsal, and if he says one word to me, I’ll turn around, leave and write a statement. I came, got dressed, we all went on stage. He came up and said: now let’s start with the scenes, there, “Lyuska - the sixth dream,” he looks at me and says: rehearse, please. And he didn't tell me anything else. We didn’t apologize, we didn’t suck up, he just said: rehearse, and I started rehearsing... And so I never had to leave. Because I am, after all, a service person - I am dispassionate, I am patriotic, I love my Motherland, I love my theater. Well, indeed, Goncharov managed to create an amazing aura in the theater. When Goncharov was in the theater, I actually felt good.

— Does life force you to do something? Are you forced to somehow hold yourself, show yourself, control yourself?

- Yes, sure. You see, getting to the top is easier than coming down from it. But staying there is even more difficult. Because, in principle, if you want to go down, you can move out from there at the fifth point. The hardest thing in life is to hold on.

— What would you like to wish for yourself and the audience?

“Every morning when I get up, I wish myself one thing: to survive.” Because we are born into this world, and God gives us every opportunity, and until we are pulled away from the outside, we retain this God’s breath. I would like every person to keep this within themselves. I would like to wish you patience and love. I would like to thank the audience, because I understand that as long as there is at least one person who sits in the auditorium and watches what I do, my profession gains immortality...

Films and television films shot in...

70s:

“On the way through Moscow” (Seller)
“Hello and goodbye” (Nadezhka)
“Looking for a Man” (Klava)
“Cliff” (Marfenka)
“You can’t find happiness alone” (Mike)
“Sergeev is looking for Sergeev” (Chairman of the local committee)
“Khmyr” (Huge girl)
"Most hot month"(Tanya)
“Not scary” (Elena)
"Cement" (Motya)
"Autumn" (Dusya)
“Return” (Sofia)
"The Innkeeper" (Mirandolina)
« The Cherry Orchard"(Dunyasha)
“Theater Stories” (Kauchukova-Dolskaya)
“Sweet Woman” (Anna Dobrokhotova)
“Wounded Animals” (Tasya)
“Profitable Place” (Vishnevskaya)
"Persistent Fog" (Euphrosyne)
“Yarovaya Love” (Dunka)
"Trouble" (Zina)
“I guarantee life” (Olga)
« Feedback"(Melnikova)
“Citizen Nikanorova is waiting for you” (Katka Nikanorova)
“Funny people” (Rebrotesova)
"The Captain's Daughter" (Catherine II)
"Truffaldino from Bergamo" (Smeraldina)
“Trace on the Earth” (Klavdiya Karnavina)
“Autumn Marathon” (Nina Evlampievna)
“Vacation in September” (Valeria)
“The Imaginary Sick” (Belina)

80s:

“Go away, go away” (Marina)
« White snow Russia" (Nadezhda)
“He left and did not return” - The investigation is being conducted by Experts - (Alena Milovidova)
“Say a word for the poor hussar” (Zhuzhu)
“Uninvited Friend” (Glushakova)
“One day 20 years later” (Nadya Kruglova)
"Dulcinea Toboso" (Dulcinea)
"The Stupid Artist" (Narrator)
“Sold Laughter” (Confectioner)
« Child's world"(Lula)
“Limitation period” (Natalia)
“Teenager” (Tatyana Pavlovna)
“Singles are provided with a hostel” (Vera)
“And life, and tears, and love...” (Antonina)
“Mistress of the orphanage” (Alexandra Ivanovna Vaneeva)
"Children of the Sun" (Melania)
“Personal file of Judge Ivanova” (Lyubov Grigorievna)
“Feat of Odessa” (Aunt Grunya)
“Farewell of a Slav” (Zhenya)
“Winter evening in Gagra” (Irina Melnikova)
"Go to summer time"(Ventsova)
“The Chosen One of Fate” (Innkeeper)
“Aelita, don’t pester men” (Aelita Gerasimova)
“The Life of Klim Samgin” (Marina Zotova)
"Two Arrows" (Widow)
“It” (Empress Elizaveta Petrovna)
“The heart is not a stone” (Apollinaria Panfilovna)

90s:

"Passport" (Inga)
"Dog's Feast" (Jeanne)
"Temptation B." (Natasha)
“Promised Heaven” (Lyuska)
“Crazy” (Countess Otreshkova)
“1000 dollars one way” (Anfisa)
“Chicken” (Alla Ivanovna)
"Vivat, Midshipmen!" (Elizaveta Petrovna)
"Chalinger's Shard" (Zinaida)
“Midshipmen-III” (Elizaveta Petrovna)
"The Queen's Private Life" (Rapa)
"Alphonse" (Sveta)
“Hostages of the Devil” (Sergeeva)
“Petersburg secrets” (Princess Shadurskaya)
“Moscow Holidays” (Neighbor)
“I want to go to jail” (Marusya)
“Apple of Paradise” (Rimma Petrovna)
“Office on the 13th floor” - Lyubov.ru - (Marina)

year 2000:

"Her last love" - Rostov-papa - (Anna Gusarova)

year 2001:

“Salome” (Vasilisa Savvichna)

People's Artist of Russia (1986)
Best actress according to polls by the magazine "Soviet Screen" (1977, 1981, 1984, 1990)
Prize winner Lenin Komsomol (1978)
Laureate State Prize RSFSR named after the Vasiliev Brothers (1980, for participation in the film "Autumn Marathon")
Prize at the IX International Film Festival in Bulgaria (1981)
Prize of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia "Nika" (1990)
Prize "Diamond Crown" of the All-Russian festival "Constellation" (1990)
Prize at the Montreal International Film Festival for Best Actress (1990)
Golden Eagle Prize for Best Actress in the film Rostov-Papa (2002)
Awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree (1998)
Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1984, for theatrical work)
Winner of the Moscow Prize (1994, for participation in the play “Victim of the Century”)
Winner of the Crystal Turandot Award (1996)
Laureate of the Russian business circles award "Idol" (1999, for acting in the play "Elisir of Love")
Winner of the East-West International Film Festival in Baku for the best female image (2000)
Winner of the Stanislavsky Prize for his contribution to theatrical art (2001)
Presidential Award Winner Russian Federation in Literature and Art (2002)

Her father, Georgy Makarovich, worked as a farm laborer near Tula as a child, came to Moscow at the age of 14, and worked his way up from a worker to an engineer. Natalya Gundareva's mother, Elena Mikhailovna Gundareva, graduated from a construction institute and worked in a design bureau as a design engineer. In her free time from work, she played in the amateur theater of her research institute, and her love for the theater was passed on to her daughter. Natasha went to a circle artistic word to the House of Pioneers, and being a fairly large girl, she played age-appropriate roles in most performances. For example, in " wild dog Dingo” she played the role of the main character’s mother.

In her youth, Natasha was not at all ashamed of her plumpness, although because of this she looked older than her years. Broad-boned and tall, she dressed very modestly, despite her plumpness, attended basketball, ballroom dancing, skied and went without a hat in windy weather.

After graduating from school, Natalya Gundareva was going to follow in the footsteps of her mother - to become a design engineer. This decision was explained by poverty, and after the 10th grade Gundareva went to evening school (then the education was 11 years long), and got a job as a draftsman in a design bureau, since the construction institute where she was going to enter required work experience. After two years of working in the bureau, Natalya Gundareva became an assistant to the chief engineer of the project, and at the family council it was decided that Natasha would enter the Moscow Institute of Civil Engineering. In 1967, she began taking the entrance exams to MISS and successfully passed two rounds, but chance intervened in her fate. “I seriously decided to become a builder,” Gundareva later recalled, “I enjoyed the reconstruction of reinforced concrete ceramic plants. I passed two exams at the institute, when suddenly a friend ran in: “Natasha, is it true that you are applying to MISS?!” Lost her mind! Immediately bring the documents to us in Shchukinskoye!” For some reason I obeyed.”

Natalya’s mother went on vacation at that time, and Natalya Gundareva’s “friend” turned out to be Viktor Pavlov, who worked at the Ermolova Theater. It was he who persuaded Gundareva to throw her dreams of engineering and construction out of her head and become an actress.

At the Shchukin School, where Gundareva soon came to take exams, there was a competition of 247 people for a place, but Gundareva was not afraid of this. After listening to Gundareva, the examiners’ opinions were divided: some noted the student’s plumpness, others noted that she was quite flexible. Everything was decided by the voice of the chairman of the commission, who noted that, despite the shortcomings, the applicant Gundareva was a very charming girl, and Natalya was enrolled in a course with the wonderful actor and teacher Yuri Katin-Yartsev. Gundareva’s classmates were Yuri Bogatyrev, Konstantin Raikin and Natalya Varley. Having entered drama school, Gundareva was actively involved in stage movement and choreography, contrary to the opinion of teachers who said that being overweight would limit her acting capabilities.

Natalya’s mother was extremely upset by her daughter’s strange decision, believing that she would certainly beg in the theater. For comparison, at the design bureau Natalya was paid 120 rubles a month, while the scholarship at the theater school was only 38 rubles. The young student had to work part-time. “In general, I started earning money with my labor early,” Natalya Georgievna later said. “We didn’t live poorly, but modestly, and when mom and dad separated, life became even more difficult. I lifted up the loops on stockings (they were expensive at that time) for my mother’s friends. I was paid 50 kopecks or even a ruble for this. I sewed my own skirts and dresses.”

As a sophomore, Gundareva played the age-appropriate role of Domna Platonovna in Leskov’s “Warrior” so vividly during her mastery exam that the then rector Boris Zakhava, who played the role of Kutuzov in the epic film “War and Peace” directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, admiringly said: “Gundareva has nothing left to do.” study - it's time to go on stage. I’m ready to give her a diploma now!”

“It was a lyceum. Volnitsa in in a good way words,” the actress later recalled. Observation, tenacious visual memory and purposeful imagination became important from the first student tests professional quality Gundareva. And another quality of hers appeared at the same time - a sober, critical attitude towards herself and the desire to overcome her own weaknesses and shortcomings.

After graduating from college in 1971, several Moscow theaters applied for Natalya Gundareva, and Gundareva chose the Mayakovsky Theater. For the first three years, she played introductions to plays of the current repertoire, and the actress’s first significant work in the theater was the role of Lipochka in the play “Bankrupt” based on Ostrovsky’s play in 1974. Then, in the play “Running,” Gundareva played the “camping wife of General Charnota” Lyuska, finding new colors for her heroine, which made Lyuska one of the main heroines of the play. The role of Katerina Izmailova, played by Gundareva in the play “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” staged in 1979, also remains in the memory of the audience.

Natalya Gundareva's first husband was Leonid Kheifetz. Their marriage lasted six years, in addition, Kheifetz directed Natalya in the television film “Precipice,” which brought her first fame. In 1973, Natalya Gundareva was offered to play in the film “Autumn,” but she was three months pregnant. In order not to give up leading role, Gundareva had an abortion and could no longer have children.

The play “Profitable Place” was the last working together Natalia Gundareva and Leonid Kheifets. Over the course of six years, their life together changed dramatically. Before his marriage, Leonid Efimovich lived in the Theater Soviet army right behind the scenes, but when things started to go wrong for him serious relationship with Gundareva, he began to bother about normal housing. When a house was built on Tverskaya Street specifically for actors, the couple received an apartment in it. This was especially convenient for Heifetz - he was then mainly involved in staging plays at the Maly Theater, and it was convenient for him to get to his place of work on foot. But, on the other hand, due to the fact that the theater was located not far from the director’s house, he often brought the entire troupe to his home after the performance. The actors liked this behavior, but for the director’s wife these frequent gatherings were a burden. Initially, Gundareva greeted guests with joy, but later hospitality began to be difficult for her. After the film “Sweet Woman,” she was bombarded with offers to play new roles, and she was very tired, filming 5-6 films at the same time. Therefore, when she heard the sound of the door being unlocked and Heifetz’s voice from the threshold: “Natasha, set the table!” - she had to sacrifice her rare time of rest for the sake of the guests. Gundareva said to one of her friends: “And here I am standing in the kitchen and peeling potatoes. I'm so tired of my boss's worries. I can't do it anymore! That’s it, my love is over!”

Gundareva had practically no one to even consult with or transfer the circle of household concerns to someone. Natasha’s mother could not help her daughter, since she herself got married for the second time. And Gundareva had to choose - either work or family. Work won, and Gundareva decided to divorce. “With children, I probably pay for success,” said Gundareva. - I always had a job. And she was constantly ahead of the next need to have a child. I thought I would finish this work, and then... I would pay with loneliness in old age. Am I scared? So life is generally scary. In addition, there is a quiet hope that God will not abandon his mercy and all this will happen overnight. And you will not hang as a burden on those who remain next to you. And you will leave by pushing off with one foot from the ground.”

Natalya Gundareva remarried the Mayakovsky Theater actor Viktor Koreshkov, and Natalya Gundareva’s third husband was actor Mikhail Filippov.

The actress said about Filippov: “Misha came to the theater and became friends with my former classmate at the theater school. Thus, we ended up in the same company. They made friends, played pranks, jokes. By the way, my husband is a man of amazing humor. He knows a lot about a good joke. God didn’t give me such wit, and I was basically just a performer. But I liked being part of it all. Then in the theater we worked so well together that we realized: we need to live together. The only reason why we have misunderstandings is the dissimilarity of the rhythms of life. True, now I have become calmer. Previously, I used to hurry: “Well, come on, hurry up...” In response I hear: “Natasha, we still have 15 whole minutes.” All. The incident is over. My husband has a son from his first marriage, we have no children together. When the husband is an artist, this removes many problems. There is no need to explain why you are nervous before the premiere or rehearse until late. My husband is not a critic, but a friend... He knows that if something is wrong, I will torment myself. He doesn't interfere in my affairs, and I don't interfere in his. Yes, I understand that no one knows him the way I know Misha. It can be a shame that the directors with whom he worked could not always see, feel and realize his capabilities. Well, we can only hope that this will happen another time. I married him not because he’s talented, but because it’s him.”

In 1972, Natalya Gundareva played the main role in Vitaly Melnikov’s melodrama “Hello and Farewell!” The actress portrayed her character so truthfully that Lenfilm received a letter saying that the management of the film studio was doing the right thing by involving not only actors in the filming, but also people from the people, including the village girl Natasha Gundareva.

When we decided to meet Gundareva,” scriptwriter Viktor Merezhko later recalled, “she amazed us. She didn’t have at all what we are used to in our beginning performers. Neither immaturity, nor deliberate fatigue, nor any general certainty - for some reason it is believed that there is a mystery and perspective in this. Gundareva attracted people with her cheerful optimism, well-defined and very perky femininity, and the undisguised pressure of fresh, unspent creative forces. She somehow immediately discouraged you with her naturalness, unadornedness and “no make-up”, which was also not very common in a young actress. It’s now (by the way, maybe after Gundareva?) that there has been a fashion for external artlessness and natural beauty. And in the early 70s, as we remember, “painted” divas in trousers walked along the streets and screens, and among them Gundareva, with her freckles and not at all a “diet” figure, seemed like a miracle. And we told her: “Hello!”

The actress herself, speaking about the role of the barmaid Nadenka, was categorical: “When I looked at myself in this role, I was horrified: a screen like this had not yet been invented to accommodate my back.” Later, Gundareva played the role of Dusya in Andrei Smirnov’s melodrama “Autumn”, Tasi in Nikolai Gubenko’s drama “Wounded Man” and Anya Dobrokhotova in Vladimir Fetin’s melodrama “Sweet Woman”. Last role required considerable experience from the actress - Gundareva played three different women, three different destinies through which her heroine comes to herself. The film caused a wide resonance in society and a stream of responses, in which the role of the actress, who created such a life-like and controversial image, was highly appreciated. It is no coincidence that in 1977, in a poll by the magazine “Soviet Screen”, Natalya Gundareva was recognized for the first time as the best actress of the year.

In the late 1970s, Natalya Gundareva played several more notable roles. In the melodrama by Valentin Maryagin “Citizen Nikanorova is Waiting for You,” Gundareva appeared before the audience in the image of a violent, addicted, but at the same time kind and sensitive Katya Nikanorova. In 1979, Gundareva played Nina in Georgy Danelia’s tragicomedy “Autumn Marathon,” and for her performance of this role the actress was awarded the Vasilyev Brothers Prize.

In 1980, eight films featuring Gundareva were released on USSR screens. One of the films called “White Snow of Russia” told about the brilliant chess player, world champion Alexander Alekhine. Alexander Mikhailov starred in the main role in this film, and Natalya Gundareva played Alekhine’s wife, Nadezhda, who was having a hard time with separation from her homeland in emigration.

To say that I liked working with her,” Alexander Mikhailov recalled about filming with Natalya Gundareva, “is to say nothing. She is a very interesting and talented person.

The film “White Snow of Russia” was the “starting” film in the collaboration of Gundareva and Mikhailov. Then they played together in the film “Lonely are provided with a hostel” and in one of the episodes of the series “The Investigation is Conducted by Experts.” Popular rumor immediately “married” Gundareva and Mikhailov. And no one paid attention to the fact that in the same “Olympic” year, a film adaptation of Moliere’s “The Imaginary Invalid” was released, where Gundareva starred with her real then-husband. True, she had a main female role, and his is episodic.

Then Natalya Gundareva starred in the film “Once Upon a Time Twenty Years Later” directed by Yuri Egorov, which told the story of the fate of a woman raising ten children. The birth rate was falling in the country, and the appearance of this picture was caused by government orders. Egorov decided to visit real large families and looked at how they really live. After watching the film, the director was shocked by what he saw: in most families, parents were alcoholics, and their children were crawling on the floor and playing with bottles. Despite the realities seen, a beautiful film fairy tale was released, the success of which was largely dictated by the choice of performers: Natalya Gundareva, who absolutely harmoniously played the mother of many children, and Viktor Proskurin in the role of the father of the family.

In the mid-1980s, Natalya Gundareva fell into car accident, and couldn’t play for three months. At this time, an invitation from the Odessa Film Studio for a role in the film “The Feat of Odessa”. Natalya Gundareva recalled: “I tell them: “How am I going to play?” - and they answered me: “We are in wartime, we don’t care what’s on your face, which gave me hope.”

Having recovered from her injury, Gundareva got behind the wheel again. Director Andrei Goncharov, having learned that she was again driving a car on her own, asked: “Natasha, are you again proving that you can do anything?” The actress herself compared her life to the Olympics, when each participant strives to follow her law: “Faster! Higher! Stronger!"

The actress again delighted her fans with new works. In the tragicomedy “Aelita, don’t pester men,” she played a simple-minded woman, ready to directly say even to the famous film actor Belmondo: “I like you!” This was followed by roles in the detective story “Two Arrows,” the comedy “Crazy,” and the tragicomedy “Promised Heaven.” And in the television film “Vivat, midshipmen!” she played Empress Elizabeth.

When she went on stage to receive the Idol Award in 1999, she said: “The longer you live, the more people there are for whom you have something to thank” - and, at the same time, thanked her “enemies who forced her to be better.” Being a maximalist, Natalya Gundareva strictly assessed both herself and others. They said about Gundareva that she could reprimand her partner twice, and on the third time she would demand to remove him from the role. The director of the film “Aelita, don’t pester men,” Georgy Natanson recalled: “Natasha was very free in her judgments, she was not afraid of anyone. It turned out to be more difficult to work with her than with Doronina. But she is talented and natural, like a cat.”

During her last theater season, Natalya Gundareva worked at her usual intense rhythm. She thought that the stress to which she regularly subjected her health had already become the norm, but in such a state, as a rule, it is difficult to stop and take a breath. In the 2000/2001 season, Natalya Gundareva played roles in three performances - Glafira Firsovna in “Victim of the Century”, Ogneva in “Theatrical Romance” and Lettice Duffe from “Elisir of Love”. She was faithful to her director and the theater, comparing her attitude towards the theater with her attitude towards family and marriage: “Once and for a lifetime.” Natalya Georgievna even usually spent holidays at the theater. And in one interview, when asked by a journalist about how she starts her day, Gundareva answered ironically: “A hand reaches to my head and pulls me out of bed by my hair.”

IN last years Natalya Gundareva often starred in television series, embodying the image of business woman middle-aged. Slender, beautiful, fit, she moved away from the role of a rude simpleton. Similar projects include one of her last roles - psychologist Marina in the TV series “Lyubov.ru”. Director Vladimir Vladimirovich Basov said: “She was, of course, the highest professional and had incredible endurance. Judge for yourself, out of 48 shooting days - July - August - she was busy for 40. Her work went on every day, and then we were filming almost 18 hours a day. We filmed the series using a progressive method - in huge chunks. Natasha had long scenes when she had to say a lot of text at once. Three cameras were installed, and she worked on each of them. It was difficult, even errors in the text were fraught with large reshoots. But this is what Gundareva’s high responsibility means! There was never a time when she spoke her text with errors or even stumbled. Well done! We then filmed all the scenes with her simply from the first take. The most talented actress!”

There were legends about Gundareva’s responsibility during her work. Because of this, as many partners stated, it was easy to communicate with her. Natalya Georgievna always came to the theater an hour and a half before the start of the performance, prepared very seriously for it, went down to the stage before the other actors and, standing backstage, listened to the noise of the audience, trying to guess its current mood. But one day, the most absurd incident happened to her, so obligatory and fanatical in her work: she... forgot to show up for her own performance. On this day, she accompanied her friends abroad and simply took a break from the constant rhythm. The next day, the director of the theater called her, and the unsuspecting Gundareva, thinking that they wanted to congratulate her on being awarded the title of “People’s” artist, came to him in a good mood. When Gundareva sat down in front of her superiors, crossing her legs, and prepared to listen to what they would tell her, the following dialogue took place: “Well, Natasha, what are we going to do?” - “Well, I don’t know, we’ll probably be scared to walk.” - “Natasha, do you understand what happened?” - “What happened?” - “Natashenka, you didn’t show up to the performance yesterday, you know?” When the meaning of the conversation reached Gundareva, she felt bad and lost consciousness. And all this despite the fact that on a serious occasion Gundareva could express herself quite forcefully and did not suffer from excessive sentimentality.

The actress had her first stroke at her dacha on July 19, 2001. She was cutting vegetables for dinner and, as she later recalled, her vision suddenly grew dark, as if she had fallen somewhere. Lying on the floor, she was discovered by her husband Mikhail Filippov, who immediately called “ Ambulance" The actress lay in a coma for ten days - a critical period, usually people do not fully recover after this, but the doctors did everything possible, and Natalya Gundareva began to recover. Soon she began asking doctors when she would be allowed to return to her favorite theater, and her colleagues were looking forward to Gundareva’s recovery. The management of the Mayakovsky Theater started talking about making a play with her voice-over, and the artistic director of the theater Artsibashev offered Gundareva the position of his assistant.

On August 28, 2002, a year after the stroke, doctors allowed Gundareva to celebrate her birthday. They were always very cautious in their forecasts, but Gundareva gradually regained her speech, went to the gym every day, began to walk a little, and even planned to write a book of memoirs. Fearing to worry Natalya Georgievna, information about the death of Elena Mikhailovna’s mother, who died a few weeks after her daughter’s hospitalization, was hidden from her for a year.

“For all four years, Natasha was looked after by nurse Ira, who became a member of the family. She became attached to Natasha and was always ready to please her with at least something, Gundareva’s friends said. - Natasha loved to talk to her, affectionately calling her Bun. They made fun of each other and laughed. And it seemed that for a while the bad things were forgotten... Due to illness, Natalya Georgievna’s character deteriorated a little. Sometimes she was offended by the nurse if she left her alone in the room for five minutes, or by her husband, who was leaving for filming but calling his beloved wife on his mobile every hour. He refused many roles to be with his wife. Sometimes Natasha could be capricious because of her illness. Suddenly she wants someone to urgently bring her her best expensive fur coat and take her out for a walk in it. What can you do - she's a woman! They brought a fur coat and tried to anticipate any desires, worrying about their loved one.”

The actress lacked communication. All her life she had been accustomed to being the center of attention, and suddenly she found herself cut off from the world. She did not like to stay at home for a long time and insisted on being taken to the hospital. As she herself said, to her “party”, in which she made friends with doctors and nurses. “Natalya Gundareva always remembered that she was a woman, she loved to flirt, and her personal doctor Timur Mansurovich complimented her and called her his favorite patient. She felt comfortable here,” the nurses said. - Sometimes Natalya Georgievna seemed to lose clarity of mind, she forgot where she was, asked strange questions, she imagined something... But when consciousness returned, she read a lot (she was especially interested in the Bible, which became her reference book), she was cheerful , solved crossword puzzles with ease.”

In the fall of 2004, Natalya Georgievna suddenly became worse. And shortly before her death, Gundareva went to a Tibetan monk, from whom she asked for spiritual help.

I hate myself in the “whatever” state. I prefer the torment of hell. I'm used to them. This is how my life turned out, and it cannot be changed,” the actress admitted.

Over the past few months, the actress’s illness has proceeded without complications. Doctors were concerned about heart arrhythmia - a consequence of a sedentary life on medications. Gundareva was sometimes sharp and irritable. “But a week ago, Natasha suddenly affectionately hugged nurse Ira and said a lot of kind words, confessed her love, and thanked her for her patience. “Ira was moved to tears,” said a friend of the actress. “And Natalya Georgievna suddenly warmly asked her husband for forgiveness that because of her illness he had suffered so much, as if... she had a presentiment of trouble.”

On May 7th, Natasha’s relatives took her to the dacha for the holidays. This was usually done when she felt well. And the doctors allowed the patient to change her environment for a few days. Then Gundareva returned to the hospital again. She told the nurses that she dreamed that she was flying in her sleep. “What happened suddenly hit us, no one expected anything bad! The day before, Natasha’s husband visited her, they spent time together, then said goodbye, everything was fine! - recalled a friend of Natasha’s nanny. - I know, Natasha said that she was afraid to die at home: they say, I will feel bad, and you will not be able to provide help at the right time. She endured so much pain and was afraid. I was afraid to die in agony.”

Death came suddenly: according to some sources, a blood clot that blocked the pulmonary artery broke loose, according to others, the cause of death was another stroke.

Natalya Gundareva died on May 15, 2005. When she was buried, the funeral service at the Mayakovsky Theater had to be extended by an hour and a half. Thousands of people lined up along Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street all the way to the Manezh certainly wanted to say goodbye to their beloved actress. According to the ancient acting tradition, she was seen off on her last journey with applause.

Natalia Gundareva was buried at the Troekurovskoye cemetery in Moscow.

A documentary film “Our Natasha” was shot about Natalya Gundareva. In it, Sergei Shakurov, Emmanuel Vitorgan, Leonid Kheifets, Alexander Mikhailov, Karen Shakhnazarov, Victor Merezhko and Tatyana Dogileva spoke about Natalya Gundareva

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The text was prepared by Andrey Goncharov.

INTERVIEW WITH NATALIA GUNDAREVA

How do you, such a pleasant woman in all respects, make ill-wishers?

I think this is because I reserve the right to tell the truth. I either don’t say anything at all, but if they ask me, I don’t think it’s possible to be disingenuous in any way. Well, who likes the truth... There is such a wonderful joke about this, when one actor asks another: “You know, I only trust you, so tell me, how did I play the premiere?” - “Should I tell you honestly?” - “Honestly, because only you will tell me the truth!” - “Honestly, it sucks...” - “No, I’m serious...” Maybe I will seem very arrogant, but there are no talented people who don’t have ill-wishers.

- How do you react to them?

I believe that I have one way of dealing with all the negativity around me - this is to do my job well. I don't know any other way to take revenge. If I manage to play a role decently, I consider that this is my revenge. I won’t pour salt under the threshold.

- Feelings of envy are not inherent to you at all?

It is present, but it is different. For example, I see a woman who is well, stylishly dressed, with gorgeous hair. Then I see her a second time and understand that this is her way of existence. This is how she is. Or I watch some actress in a role and suffer: why not this role for me, how I would like to play it... Why do I think so? Because she plays well too. Maybe if I had just read this role, I wouldn’t have seen it. And I saw it because she played wonderfully. And then I feel sad, envious that I don’t have such a role or one similar to it.

- What role do you dream about?

I never dreamed of roles. Of course, I choose when they offer me 10 scripts. But the director sees me in this role and not in any other. And here, no matter how much I wanted to play Juliet, he sees me as a Nurse, and I have nowhere to go. You see, I always tried not to make guesses, tried not to dream. I thought that the coming day would bring me something, that God would not leave me, the viewer would not forget me, and somehow my crooked path would still lead me onto a bright path.

Is the acting world aggressive?

No matter how much you try to show everyone what a self-sufficient person you are, in demand, if you sit at home or do some trivial things, if you run around some small things, parties, these dens...

- What do you call nativity scenes?

I call this kind of pastime a nativity scene. Empty, it brings nothing to either the soul or the mind. And the body simply physically wears out. It seems to me that such a crazy false active existence harms actors. This is a flickering, meaningless, useless to anyone, giving nothing to anyone, bringing nothing to anyone... When people forget about their profession, this is where, in my opinion, the most tragic moments of an actor’s existence begin.

- Do you like to philosophize?

I have lived my life and I reserve the right to think. I have a time when I walk from my house on Tverskaya to the theater. I walk 35 minutes to the theater. This is what I call “my time”. At this time I answer my questions. I ask myself questions of different kinds. Who will be the president? How prices will increase. About working on the role. I try to answer all these questions for myself. When I answer them, then, in principle, meeting with a journalist is no longer difficult. It’s as if I’ve already thought about everything. This is not philosophy. With the power of thought, I force myself, when there are so many dens around, not to go there, not to waste myself. I'm kind of saving myself for something. Maybe I will remain an unfilled vessel - well, that means that’s my fate. But I still strive for a full life. I understand that the time of my life is running out. Well, it’s like I’ve lived more than half my life. And I don’t want to do it like this, off the shoulder: ah, now I’m going to all the trouble - here they invite me to this bar, here are gifts, here they will give me a fountain pen, here they will give me chewing gum... Well, I can’t afford it. Because I love myself very much, and I love myself so directly, from morning to night. And because of this, I don’t allow myself so much!

- Are you inventing your own world?

I don't confuse life with theater. Life is one thing, and I believe that life is beautiful because it is life. And the theater is beautiful because it is a theater. It seems to me that it is a great misfortune for some actors when they confuse these two concepts. They can’t play anything on stage anymore, but in life you just can’t get enough of them. But you get tired of these very quickly.

- Don't you like merry people?

Time has scattered people so much, rocked them so much... Everyone is like fragile little boats on these waves of the sea of ​​life... So I turn on some program and watch. And now everyone is joking, joking, everything is sad, but everyone is joking. Is it all so funny to you? When a person goes on stage and starts telling jokes - a professional pop performer! Yes, he is a joker, but not to the same extent as to tell jokes about the back seat. Well, we probably need to prepare some kind of program. People laugh, but how can I tell you... I believe that during life we ​​rise, our task is to rise, not to fall. Otherwise, why go somewhere? I don’t understand this: why is there such a wild stupidity of people sitting in front of the TV? We used to listen to what emphasis the announcer would put, and we learned from them. Well then, let’s all say: “doors”, “linol”, let’s burn Dahl’s dictionary on Red Square, come on!

-Can you lie?

No, it’s difficult to lie; your eyes start to wander. 28 years in the theater, it would seem, like an artist, but as soon as I lie, I feel the pupil trembling and the eyes shift. Well, of course, I won’t tell a cancer patient that he is hopeless, and if a friend of mine comes after a sleepless night and says: oh, I look so bad today - and she needs to perform... I say: what are you talking about, it’s normal, I even I was surprised, you said you didn’t sleep until three, but you look very decent! But I understand that she needs support now... But in general, I can’t lie.

- Well, you didn’t lie when you were a child?

Mom caught it once. I went on what was called an extended day. On Saturday we were taken to the cinema, and at home they gave me 50 kopecks. I collected them, went to GUM and ate ice cream, with a mound, very tasty. And one day my mother caught me doing this. We got off the bus together, although I, in theory, was supposed to ride on the other side. "Where have you been?" Unfortunately for me, my mother was also at this film, which it seemed like I was at. There was such a scandal at home! Until I screamed like crazy. (She never hit me, she hit me on the butt with her palm once - I cried for three hours - it was such an insult and humiliation of my human dignity! It was scary, I didn’t want to live.) And then I screamed: what, I can’t even eat ice cream ?! My pain spoke to me. (Laughs.)

- Were you spoiled as a child?

They never made fun of me, they never called me Natasha. Natasha - that's all.

- After whom were you named Natasha?

I left the maternity hospital with this name. Like any newborn, I had this huge head. But they say that my mouth was even bigger than my head, and I screamed accordingly. And when they rolled in the stroller with the children for feeding, my mother said that the nanny in the maternity hospital simply threw me at her with the words: take your Natasha! When my mother left the maternity hospital with me, I was already responding to this name, and my father said: well, let him be Natasha.

- Why do you look so good?

And I have nothing left to do.

- You are in great shape, have you managed to lose weight?

And I eat myself, from morning to night, so I’ve lost weight.

- But seriously - diet?

Well, I made some efforts, but not cruel ones. I didn’t take pills, I think it’s harmful (the so-called Thai pills were in fashion then. - E.N.). And so I “died” on something. I lost weight for a long time - more than a year.

- You don’t eat buns, do you have any sweets?

Well, I really love puff pastries with cherries. When one of your friends comes, they say: how come, you seem to be losing weight? What about buns? I answer: stupid, what is not clear is my vitamin: B1, B2...

- How do others react to your updated appearance?

Ill-wishers' jaws drop when they see me. And my friends are very happy.

- Do you travel and relax a lot?

Well, my husband and I are going somewhere, but I can’t say that I’m a traveler. I once sailed on a ship. I thought I would go crazy in this closed space, where the same people were. I'm a very sociable person, but I need a place where I can be alone. In general, I believe that whoever God wants to curse, he rewards with loneliness. But I love privacy, I need places where I can retire.

-Have you ever thought about leaving the theater?

There was a conflict when we were rehearsing the play “Running”. I played Lyuska. The runs had already begun, but Andrei Aleksandrovich Goncharov made very few comments to me. And now there is such a decisive run-through, a dress rehearsal, and after that he suddenly tells me - he makes comments to everyone, comments, and then he says to me: I have nothing to say to you at all, you rehearsed monstrously today, you have some kind of home direction. I say: what home directing... while I’m in this church, I pray to this God. He doesn't listen - we are in two voices. He suddenly began to say: don’t scare me, that you will leave me (this is after the words “while I’m in this church”). And he started yelling at me, and I got up and left. I went to change my clothes, came home and thought: I’ll leave the theater if he talks to me like that... Well, how can it be - for 20 days of the run-through he didn’t make a single comment (I would have reconsidered), and suddenly at the dress rehearsal I’m doing everything wrong? ! There are failures, but not to the same extent. I thought, thought: no, I decided, I’ll still find the strength in myself and tomorrow I’ll come to the rehearsal, and if he says one word to me, I’ll turn around, leave and write a statement. I came, got dressed, we all went on stage. He came up and said: now let’s start with the scenes, there, “Lyuska - the sixth dream,” he looks at me and says: rehearse, please. And he didn't tell me anything else. We didn’t apologize, we didn’t suck up, he just said: rehearse, and I started rehearsing... And so I never had to leave. Because I am, after all, a service person - I am dispassionate, I am patriotic, I love my Motherland, I love my theater. Well, indeed, Goncharov managed to create an amazing aura in the theater. When Goncharov was in the theater, I actually felt good.

- Does life force you to do something? Are you forced to somehow hold yourself, show yourself, control yourself?

Yes, sure. You see, getting to the top is easier than coming down from it. But staying there is even more difficult. Because, in principle, if you want to go down, you can move out from there at the fifth point. The hardest thing in life is to hold on.

- What would you like to wish for yourself and the audience?

Every morning when I get up, I wish myself one thing - to survive. Because we are born into this world, and God gives us every opportunity, and until we are pulled away from the outside, we retain this God’s breath. I would like every person to keep this within themselves. I would like to wish you patience and love. I would like to thank the audience, because I understand that as long as there is at least one person who sits in the auditorium and watches what I do, my profession gains immortality...

Filmography:

1966 Khmyr
1970 Passing through Moscow
1972 Hello and goodbye
1973 Looking for a man
1973 Appointment
1974 Autumn
1976 Wounded Animals
1976 Sweet Woman
1977 I Guarantee Life
1977 Profitable place
1977 Lyubov Yarovaya
1977 Feedback
1977 Funny people!
1977 Truffaldino from Bergamo
1978 Citizen Nikanorova awaits you
1978 Footprint on the Earth
1978 Leaving - go away
1979 Autumn Marathon (Sad Comedy)
1979 Vacation in September
1980 White Snow of Russia
1980 Dulcinea Toboso
1980 Imaginary patient
1980 Uninvited Friend
1980 Say a word for the poor hussar
1980 One day twenty years later
1980 The investigation is conducted by Experts. Case N15. Left and never returned
1981 Sold Laughter
1982 Children's World
1983 Singles are provided with a hostel
1983 Teenager
1983 Statute of limitations
1983 Mistress of an orphanage
1984 And life, and tears, and love
1985 Children of the Sun
1985 Winter evening in Gagra
1985 Personal file of Judge Ivanova
1985 Feat of Odessa
1985 Farewell of a Slav
1987 Life of Klim Samgin
1988 Aelita, don't pester men
1989 Two arrows. Stone Age Detective
1989 It
1989 Heart is not a stone
1990 Temptation B.
1990 Passport
1990 Dog Feast
1991 $1000 one way
1991 Vivat, midshipmen!
1991 Lost in Siberia
1991 Chicken
1991 Promised Heaven
1991 Crazy
1992 Midshipmen-III
1992 Challenger fragment
1993 Alphonse
1993 Hostages of the "Devil"
1993 The Queen's Personal Life
1995 Moscow holidays
1996 Dear friend of long-forgotten years...
1998 Heavenly Apple
1998 I want to go to jail
2000 Lyubov.Ru - series
2000 Mysteries palace coups. Russia. 18th century...
2001 The denouement of St. Petersburg secrets - TV series
2001 Rostov-Papa - TV series
2001 Lyubov.ru - series
2001 Salome
2003 Criminal tango

Elena Molchenko married the famous actor Alexander Fatyushin in 1986. Many said that it was a marriage of convenience. By that time the artist was already known throughout Soviet Union, and Elena studied at the theater school. The young student did not know that Alexander Konstantinovich secretly met with Natalya Gundareva for several years. The artist could not forgive her lover’s betrayal.

“It was not a novel, it was more than a novel. She called him Shusha. Moreover, Sasha took Active participation in Natasha's life, they had a relationship. Let's just say I didn't fit in. Therefore, when she found out that Sasha and I decided to get married, she almost fainted,” said Molchenko.

Gundareva and Fatyushin served together in the same theater and played the roles of spouses in films. Even the actor’s mother accepted Natalya Georgievna as a daughter-in-law. But the actor, seeing the young student Molchenko, decided to choose her as his wife.

The lovers invited Gundareva to the wedding. The actress thought for a long time. As a result, Natalya Georgievna was among the guests. And she even made a toast to her former lover.

“I hope that Shurka will not let us down,” Gundareva told the newlyweds.

Elena and Alexander Konstantinovich lived together for almost 20 years. As Molchenko admitted, it was only in marriage that she learned that the actor suffered from alcoholism.

“Sasha comes from a family with good noble roots, but his parents... His father was a taxi driver, his brother is a taxi driver. They were simple Ryazan taxi drivers... It would be strange if he whiled away his childhood in the library. Sasha really loved feasts with friends,” Elena shared.

Fatyushin and Molchenko never had children. The actor’s widow explained that Alexander Konstantinovich was not keen on the idea of ​​becoming a father. “This topic... I can’t say that we were delirious about the child. We just thought it was strange that he wasn't there. We went to the doctor, he said everything was fine. Well, we agreed on this. I have never felt the painful pull to have children. In the end, I always repeat: everyone’s life is different,” Molchenko noted.

Fatyushin died in 2003 in his apartment. The actor was an ardent football fan. He was watching the match when his heart stopped. Alexander Konstantinovich had a presentiment of death; a few weeks before leaving, he wanted to confess in church. “Yes, it was about three weeks. He said: “I’ll go to our neighboring church and confess. He returned, the temple would be closed for repairs. I tried somehow not to pick his insides, didn’t ask what was wrong with him... Sasha, so to speak, for 17 years life together prepared for his departure,” Molchenko shared.

She passed away ten years ago - on May 15, but she is still loved by millions of viewers and those who knew this not at all sweet, but extremely honest, passionate and in every sense a real woman and a great actress.
Late 90s. Summer. Natalya Gundareva flies on tour to Israel for a few days. The exhausting 40-degree heat on the first day brings her to a critical state. The audience has already filled the hall, and Natalya is lying behind the scenes and the doctors categorically insist on her hospitalization. And when the issue was finally resolved, she suddenly said: “No, I will play.” “Natasha came out and played, and it was so talented, sparkling... It was some kind of miracle, she played to an ovation, and with absolute improvisation. She went backstage - and that’s it... Then she was taken to her room, and we They were on duty there all night and watched how she was doing,” recalls Igor Kostolevsky.
That time everything worked out fine. But there are dozens of such stories in the life of actress Gundareva, because the main thing for her has always been work. She sacrificed a lot for her.
After playing the role of a mother of many children in the film “Once Upon a Time 20 Years Later,” Natalya Gundareva received bags of letters from all over the country. The women admitted that looking at her, they decided to give birth and thanked Natalya for the example she set for them. Although the actress herself did not have children. In the mid-70s, Natalya could have become a mother, but at that moment she was offered several leading roles in theater and cinema for the first time, and Gundareva terminated her pregnancy. Later, in one of her interviews, Natalya admitted: “As long as I don’t feel the need to have children, I don’t feel their absence, theater replaces them for me.”
For almost 30 years, Natalya Gundareva, without exaggeration, reigned at the Mayakovsky Theater. The theater was everything to her - home, family, favorite hobby, although Gundareva became an actress by accident. Natalia's parents divorced when she was still little. On the advice of her mother, in her final grades she transferred to evening school and went to work as a draftsman. Then I entered MISS. But Gundareva was prevented from becoming an engineer by actor Viktor Pavlov, whom she met at an amateur theater. He persuaded Natalya to try to enter the Shchukin School. Since her mother was away at that moment, Natasha took the plunge and easily passed the competition of 250 people per place.
In the documentary, viewers will see rare footage of archival video - excerpts from her interview, a performance by student Natalya Gundareva at the theater school, and will hear memories of classmates and teachers about her. Everyone who knew Gundareva as a student unanimously affirms that she was already a great actress.
After the release of the film “The Singles Are Provided with a Hostel,” people’s rumors got Natalya Gundareva and Alexander Mikhailov married. Also, then everyone was sure of her romances with Sergei Shakurov and Viktor Proskurin. But all these actors were her lovers only on the screen, and in life Natalya, falling in love, gave herself entirely to this feeling, without a trace. She was married three times. Immediately after college, Gundareva was invited to audition for director Leonid Kheifets, and Natalya captivated him instantly. She was 24, he was 38 years old. Soon they got married in the Beijing restaurant. The bride was without a veil and in a green dress, but she was completely happy and loved.
Six years later, Kheifetz and Gundareva divorced, and Natalya began an affair with a theater colleague, actor Viktor Koreshkov. She played love scenes with him in the play “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk”, and then married him. But the second marriage lasted less than a year. Gundareva was 38 years old when she married actor Mikhail Filippov. Before their relationship began, they worked together for many years, but each had their own personal lives. In his book dedicated to Natalya, Mikhail writes: “We met at the right time, it’s a pity that it’s late.” Gundareva lived with Filippov for 19 years; she called Mikhail her only husband. In 2001, when Natalya fell ill, Mikhail literally did not leave her side. He protected me from annoying journalists and helped me learn to walk again.
In one of her last interviews, Natalya Gundareva said: “My soul is cheerful, it’s true, but all the impressions that I bring to the stage are associated with torment for me. Life is still a tragedy, because the ending is tragic: we die. .. It seems to me that from the inside all people are unhappy and lonely..."
Natalya Gundareva passed away after living only 56 years. But this was enough for her to remain in the memory of millions of viewers as a great actress and a wonderful person.
The film features friends and colleagues of the actress: Karen Shakhnazarov, Stanislav Sadalsky, Alexander Mikhailov, Sergei Chonishvili, Igor Kostolevsky, Dmitry Brusnikin, Elena Yakovleva, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Arkady Inin, Olga Prokofieva, Tatyana Vasilyeva, Natalya Varley.