Childhood and youth
She was truly born an actress. Having barely learned to pronounce words, the girl declared that she would be an artist. Nobody doubted this. At school No. 135 in the capital, where Luda studied, she was the prima of an amateur theater.
Lyudmila Marchenko in her youth
Therefore, after receiving her school certificate, she, as planned, went to the best Moscow theater universities. I went to all the famous ones: VGIK, Shchepkinsky and Shchukinsky schools. But she was advised to opt for VGIK. Marchenko listened and was not mistaken.
Lyudmila was incredibly lucky. She studied with Mikhail Romm himself. Together with her in his workshop, Andrei Konchalovsky and Vladimir Ivashov learned the secrets of cinema. In 1963, when the young artist was awarded her diploma, she was already a celebrity.
Filmography:
• 2001 - “Trace of the Werewolf” - episode; • 2004 — “And the world didn’t catch me. Grigory Skovoroda"; • 2005 - “The Return of Mukhtar-2” - Andrey, Artyom’s colleague, lieutenant; • 2005 - “The Golden Boys” - episode; • 2005 - “Grandfather of my dreams”; • 2006 — “Utesov. A song that lasts a lifetime" - episode; • 2006 - “Thank you for everything-2” - Dmitry, investigator; • 2006 - “The Nine Lives of Nestor Makhno” - Sashko Semenyuta; • 2006 — “Return of Mukhtar-3” — operative; • 2007 — “Ex-girlfriend” — episode; • 2008 - “Family People” - strip club administrator; • 2008 — “Day of Dependency” — operative; • 2008 - “Time of Sins” - Oleg; • 2009 - “Miracle” - Alexey, administrator; • 2009 - “A Completely Different Life” - Tolik, driver; • 2009 - “The Last Cordon” - Ivan, Victor’s friend; • 2010 - “Only Love” - Leonid; • 2010 - “If I loved you...” - Igor Petrovich, psychologist; • 2011 - “Psychics-detectives” - Kirill Florensky; • 2011 - “Tales from Mitya” - tax officer; • 2012 — “Cops. Secrets of the big city" - Vadim, exchange office worker; • 2012 - “Waiting List” - episode; • 2012 — “Women’s Doctor” — Ivan, resuscitator; • 2012 - “Hello, Mom!” — Mikhail Ivanovich; • 2012 - “The Passion for Chapai” - episode; • 2012-2013 — “Matchmakers-6” — psychotherapist; • 2013 — “Moths” — captain at the checkpoint; • 2013 — “Women’s Doctor-2” — Ivan, resuscitator; • 2015 — “When you come back, we’ll talk” — pilot; • 2021 — “The Major and the Magic” — episode; • 2021 — “Cop Wars. Odessa" - Vasily Shpeilo; • 2017 - “Infoholic” - doctor.
Movies
Immediately after graduating from VGIK, Lyudmila Marchenko was accepted into “Ektemim” - the Experimental Theater-Studio of Pantomime, directed by Alexander Rumnev. Looking ahead, let's say that the artist appeared on the Ektemim stage for only 2 years. From 1965 to 1984 she worked at the Film Actor's Studio Theatre. Marchenko was always closer to cinema than to the theater stage.
Lyudmila Marchenko in the film “Volunteers”
The cinematic biography of Lyudmila Marchenko began quite early. Already in the 2nd year of VGIK, Grigory Kozintsev noticed a charming girl with an upturned nose. He offered her a small role in his epoch-making film “Volunteers,” which thundered throughout the country. Lyuda got the image of a fiery Komsomol member, a metro construction worker.
A year later, in 1959, the third-year student was offered a starring role in Lev Kulidzhanov’s film “Father’s House.” Overnight Lyudmila Marchenko turned into a star. The director made the right decision. The young actress managed to convey the entire palette of feelings due to her heroine. Surprisingly, she played both pain and unhappy love brilliantly, although she had never experienced anything like that in her life.
Lyudmila Marchenko in the film "Father's House"
Now the entire Soviet Union knew her. Abroad, she was nicknamed the “Soviet Audrey Hepburn.” It is unlikely that Hollywood suspected that the star lived in a one-room apartment with 7 people.
Not only harmless admirers and young colleagues enchanted by beauty flocked to Marchenko’s inner light and incredible charm. The 19-year-old girl came to the attention of the powerful, talented and despotic director Ivan Pyryev, the creator of the Union of Cinematographers, who entered the offices of the top officials of the state without knocking. They said about him that he could make even a washerwoman a star.
Ivan Pyryev and Lyudmila Marchenko
It was such a person who turned his close attention to the young student. This turned out to be the reason for Lyudmila Marchenko’s rapid rise to stratospheric heights and at the same time the misfortune of her entire life. 58-year-old Pyryev unexpectedly invited the young student to his place.
He saw her in “Father’s House” and realized that this talented girl, like no one else, was suitable for the role of Nastenka in the project he was hatching, “White Nights” based on the work of F. Dostoevsky. Roughly making fun of the girl’s snub nose, Pyryev still approved her for the role without a single audition.
Lyudmila Marchenko in the film "White Nights"
The master’s innate directorial instincts did not let him down. The young artist brilliantly transformed into the proposed image. While playing in this film, she became so deeply involved in the role that she constantly cried and was often in a depressed state of mind. It’s difficult to play Dostoevsky’s characters on screen with other emotions.
The actress, who lived the role, did not immediately hear the gossip and gossip behind her back. Everyone noticed the new passion of the almighty Pyryev. And he didn’t really hide. Lyudmila, when she understood the reason for the strange looks of her colleagues, at first it was funny. She didn't believe that a man her grandfather's age actually fell in love with her.
Lyudmila Marchenko and Oleg Strizhenov in the film “White Nights”
However, the girl did not care about the passion of the elderly director. She fell in love with her co-star Oleg Strizhenov. Their movie love spilled over into real life. She didn’t care much that the actor was married and 11 years older than her. The artist was sure that he would leave his family. Everything else didn’t matter to Lyudmila.
Perhaps that is why she accepted the keys to the apartment that Pyryev rented for her on Maly Demidovsky Lane. But when he rubbed his hands, his young lover met Oleg Strizhenov in his love nest. When the director approached the house, there was no trace of the couple.
Lyudmila Marchenko in the film “My Little Brother”
It was a dangerous game. Marchenko did not dare to say a categorical “no” to the almighty Pyryev, but she did not say “yes” either. It seems that this inflamed the director, who was not used to refusals, even more. Lyudmila Marchenko’s sister would later write in her memoirs that Pyryev manically pursued the actress. For example, he suddenly appeared on the set of the film “My Little Brother.” The film starred aspiring actors Oleg Dal, Andrei Mironov and Alexander Zbruev.
At that time, the relationship between Lyudmila and Oleg Strizhenov ended. The actress married MGIMO student Vladimir Verbenko. When the husband arrived at the set and saw young handsome men Dahl, Mironov and Zbruev circling around his wife, and then Pyryev closely watching her, he left his wife.
Actress Lyudmila Marchenko
The creative biography of Lyudmila Marchenko moved inexorably towards its terrible ending. One day, friends brought geologist Valentin Berezin to the artist. She immediately liked the serious and courageous man. He played the guitar beautifully and spoke captivatingly about the expeditions. A romance broke out.
The young people began to live together. When this was reported to Ivan Pyryev, he angrily forbade all directors to film Marchenko. No one dared to disobey the almighty master. Leonid Gaidai, who auditioned the artist for the role of Nina in “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” took Natalya Varley. Lyudmila was not allowed into the House of Cinema and Mosfilm: all her passes were cancelled.
Lyudmila Marchenko in the film “The Cook”
There was an oppressive silence in the artist’s apartment, which was not disturbed by a single call. They say that when meeting with Pyryev, Marchenko angrily told him that she would complain. To which he laughed in her face: “Where? IN DOSSAF?
Pyryev calmed down only a few months before his death. He married actress Lionella Skirda. Only then did director Edmond Keosayan dare to offer Marchenko a small role in the film “The Cook.” But even then, Pyryev’s shadow flashed over the revived actress, forever and finally crossing out her future career.
One day Berezin, the common-law spouse of Lyudmila Marchenko, was hinted in a drunken conversation that the cooperative apartment in which they live was a gift from Pyryev. And although there was only part of the truth in this, the jealous man came home and severely beat the actress.
Actress Lyudmila Marchenko
Doctors at the Sklifosovsky Institute barely saved the disfigured actress. They really gave back the life of Lyudmila Marchenko, but the terrible scars, which could not be hidden even under a thick layer of makeup, remained for life. The woman did not say a word to the investigators about who beat her. She stated that she was in a car accident.
No one wanted to get to the bottom of the truth, because at that time the almighty Pyryev was still alive. So, at the age of 26, the cinematic biography of Lyudmila Marchenko, a talented actress who was in the prime of her creative powers, ended.
The vicissitudes of the fate of Lyudmila Marchenko
Unfortunately, if you delve into the lives of the brightest, most talented representatives of Soviet cinema, you will notice that the path of life spoiled almost no one. On the contrary, from year to year he presented only new challenges.
Previously, they sat at the pinnacle of fame, were constantly in demand, but now almost no one remembers about them. Such people include Lyudmila Marchenko, who flashed in the sky as a more than bright star, but died out less tragically.
Lyudmila began her brilliant career in Soviet cinema with the film “Father's House,” where she played her first leading role. With her acting and appearance, the girl completely disarmed the men.
Moreover, among her new fans were already far from the last and most influential people of the Soviet Union. But, unfortunately, their love only brought the young actress disappointment and unquenchable pain.
Personal life
After 2 years, the actress learned that Berezin, who beat her, had an illegitimate child. She silently collected his things and put him out the door. Unfortunately, the woman could not give birth to the child herself. Due to a pregnancy interrupted at home during her affair with Oleg Strizhenov, the actress heard a terrible verdict from doctors: she was infertile.
Lyudmila Marchenko in recent years
The personal life of Lyudmila Marchenko took sharp turns twice more. Her third husband was Mosconcert administrator Vitaly Voitenko. He tried to help the woman and found a plastic surgeon. But his skill turned out to be questionable. After several operations, the effect was terrifying.
However, the loving husband helped his wife find at least some use for her talents. He organized creative meetings with the audience. And then Marchenko, together with Vladimir Vysotsky, went on a tour around the country. But the main question that fans tormented the star with was the one she feared most: “What are you working on now?” And the actress completely broke down. She started drinking and was left alone again.
Lyudmila Marchenko in the film “Say a word for the poor hussar”
In 1977 and 1980, Lyudmila Marchenko flashed on the screen. She played in two episodes: in the film “Office Romance,” Eldar Ryazanov gave her a tiny role as the Samokhvalovs’ guest, and in the film “Put in a Word for the Poor Hussar,” she played a provincial actress.
The former star was briefly sheltered by the actor's Studio Theater. Here the artist was entrusted with playing small roles in two performances. But the head injury began to take its toll: the woman noticed that her hearing was deteriorating.
Lyudmila Marchenko with her husband Sergei Sokolov and sister
And yet, personal happiness came to her once again. The actress married graphic artist Sergei Sokolov. They lived together for 21 years, until Sergei’s death. Lyudmila was his muse. He idolized her. Marchenko's features appeared in many of his paintings. They were recognized in his princess Mary, Kuprin's Olesya and Sulamith.
Sokolov made every effort to cure his wife of alcoholism. Every spring and throughout the summer, the couple went to a village near Tver, where the artist painted his paintings, and Lyudmila dug in the garden, fed the birds, read books and talked with her cats. One hot summer Sergei passed away. He was buried in the village cemetery.
But this girl!.. She didn’t meet me halfway
“We were brought up in such a way,” says Galina Vasilievna, “that we could not be rude to an adult or say an impudent word.” To all of Pyryev’s advances (and for her, too, he was a myth, a legend), Luda respectfully responded that there was a huge age difference between them, she could not become his wife, because he was the same age as her grandfather and her mother would never understand her.
And then, not knowing defeat, Pyryev went to his 45-year-old mother. He cast an appraising glance at the small, miserable apartment, realized that the “mother-in-law” should be delighted at such a tempting offer, and began to “match.” The potential mother-in-law, undeterred by Pyryev’s anger, pointed to the door.
"My Little Brother" (1962)
Death
A few months after her husband left, Lyudmila Vasilievna also passed away. She died in the winter, on January 21, 1997, from a common flu.
Shortly before her death, Marchenko admitted with undisguised bitterness that cinema had given her nothing. She dies in poverty, without children, with a disfigured face and a broken life. The lucky ticket drawn out in youth turned out to be an empty piece of paper.
Lyudmila Marchenko's grave
It seems that the actress, having lived less than 57 years, wanted to die. She forbade her family to visit her so that they would not catch the flu. At the same time, she did not call a doctor and did not take any medications.
The Union of Cinematographers, once headed by Pyryev, allocated 200 rubles for the funeral of the actress.
The childhood years of the future actress
Luda was born on June 20, 1940 in the Caucasus, in the village of Arkhipo-Osipovka. She was the second child in the family of teachers Vasily Leontyevich and Zinaida Andreevna Marchenko . They lived and worked in Moscow, and came to Arkhipo-Osipovka for the summer to visit their wife’s father, Andrei Vladimirovich Ageev . He then served as a caretaker at a local sanatorium. And so it happened that the youngest daughter was born in this beautiful corner of our country.
Father and mother were from the same Belarusian village called Korma. They grew up there and graduated from school. Andrei Vladimirovich did not like to sit still for a long time. From Belarus he moved to Moscow. A few years later he earned a room there (which was incredible luck) and moved his entire large family to the capital - his wife Euphrosyne and six children. And then he went to the Black Sea, to Arkhipo-Osipovka.
Zinaida received the profession of a primary school teacher at a Moscow pedagogical school. Her fellow countryman Vasily graduated from the pedagogical institute in the same city. The young people, who had been friends while still schoolchildren, got married.
Shortly before the start of the war, Vasily was called up to serve in the army, then to the front. In 1944, he died near Leningrad. Zinaida and her two young children survived most of the war under occupation - in May 1941 they came to visit relatives in Belarus, and in June the entire territory of the republic fell under the Germans. After the victory, the young widow and her daughters returned to Moscow.
