Actress Olga Gobzeva was almost fifty when she decided to exchange cinema for serving God. Literally overnight she became Mother Olga. Her spiteful critics sarcastically said then that this was in fact her new role in life. And she has been in this form for almost a quarter of a century. And before that, for three decades, she literally lived on the set. Her filmography includes almost seventy films. The biography of Olga Frolovna Gobzeva will be presented to the reader below.
Orthodox family
The biography of Olga Gobzeva (date of birth - March 16, 1943) began in Moscow, in a large peasant family. Like her brothers and sisters, the future actress was raised in Orthodox traditions. In principle, this is no wonder. Olga's mother had monks in her family. My father's family was also very religious.
He was born in the Ryazan region. Over time he moved to the capital. All his life he worked as an ordinary driver and drove party functionaries in his official car.
Repeatedly they wanted to promote him up the career ladder. But he categorically did not agree to this. By and large, he was always ready to sacrifice his material well-being. He believed that the most important thing for any person is his spiritual content.
When the Stalinist repressions began, my father, as an exclusively religious and Orthodox Christian, always put on a lamp, which in those terrible times never went out. As a result, he and his family were lucky. Stalin's meat grinder did not touch them.
In addition, when the future actress was very young, she became very ill. The illness did not let her go. She was getting worse and worse. Fortunately, Olga still survived. At the same time, all her relatives claimed that her salvation lay in the fact that her father was able to beg her from God...
As for the mother of the future actress, she was a housewife and raised her six children.
The Gobzev family lived quite modestly. But all the children were able to receive a very good education.
Comes from childhood
Olga Gobzeva. / Photo: www.aif.ru
She was born into a deeply religious family. In those years when they were persecuted for their faith, Olga’s father prayed every morning and every evening in front of a small icon, bowing for several hours. And on Easter, mother put Easter cakes and colored eggs in a basket, hiding the contents under a towel, and took the children to church to bless the holiday food.
Olga Gobzeva. / Photo: www.newauction.ru
When the girl got sick, her older sister Dasha brought her a beautiful porcelain doll with huge eyes. Olga looked at this miracle in fascination and could not believe her happiness. But the younger sister asked to give her coveted toy, and the parents, despite all the girl’s requests, decided to give the doll to the youngest of the sisters, Tanechka. The baby broke the fragile miracle, porcelain shards splashed in all directions, and Olya, struck to the core, fell completely ill. Today nun Olga (Gobzeva) says that her father begged her then.
Children's time
As a little girl, Olga Gobzeva (biography, information about her personal life, professional activities are contained in the article) already had an excellent memory. She knew almost all of Pushkin by heart and was excellent at reading poetry aloud.
According to her recollections, in her youth all her peers dreamed of becoming an actress or ballerina. Olga, in turn, also studied ballet, but after some time acting began to attract her most. This is how the actress said she wanted to express herself creatively.
Moreover, near the house where Olga lived there was a House of Pioneers. She herself came there specifically and saw the literary circle. To be in the group, she had to recite one of the fables to the teachers. After this, the future actress began to learn the basics of acting.
At home, Olga informed her parents about this, saying that she would definitely become an actress. At first, my father frowned, but my mother calmed him down, explaining that this would be a real springboard for her.
A year later, thirteen-year-old Olya took part in the reading competition named after. Chekhov turned out to be the first and the best. The widow of the great Chekhov, Olga Knipper, was also at the event, and she also paid close attention to the girl. Well, Olga herself, according to her, was under a colossal impression for a long time.
Fateful meeting
Olga Gobzeva. / Photo: www.sferakino.ru
Once, during filming in Kyiv, Olga Gobzeva went to seek peace in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. There she met a priest who recognized her as an actress. She only said in annoyance about her intention to simply pray in silence. Coming out after prayer, she saw the same priest waiting for her. He fed her, and finally said that she would become a mother. Then she just smiled bitterly and didn’t believe the priest. Later, time put everything in its place.
Film debut
Olga Gobzeva made her debut as a film actress while still a student. She starred in a small film called “Hey, Somebody!” Vladimir Ivashov became his partner on the set. The legendary Mikhail Romm also saw this work. He praised her, and, in particular, he really liked the performance of the debutante Gobzeva. No wonder such flattering responses inspired her to further exploits.
Overall, she appeared in approximately seventy films throughout her acting career.
Iconic episodes
Once Gobzeva was rehearsing a performance where she played the role of a sultry Spanish woman. She liked her heroine, and she herself was pleased with how she got used to the character. Leaving the stage behind the scenes, Olga saw her son Svyatoslav walk past her, then the director: it’s hard to imagine, but they simply didn’t recognize Gobzeva.
Looking at herself in the mirror, the artist gasped: in front of her was a completely different woman. Not Russian, but purebred Spanish. Olga became so accustomed to the character that an external transformation took place. And at that moment the actress became scared, because she had lost herself. This was the first episode that made Gobzeva think about the need to change something in her life.
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And another episode made a huge impression on the artist. One day she was returning home with her son. They were almost hit by a train on the railroad tracks. Olga seriously thought that this was a sign from above. For some reason, the Lord left her and her son alive. Perhaps in order for her to complete her mission?
First glory
But real fame came to her in 1964. She then embodied the image of Vera. We are talking about the painting “I am twenty years old.” The director was the famous Marlen Khutsiev. Thanks to this work, Gobzeva received one of the prizes at the Venice Film Festival. In addition, in his film the director discovered a whole galaxy of magnificent actors. Among them were S. Svetlichnaya, P. Shcherbakov, S. Starikova, N. Gubenko, M. Vertinskaya and many others.
By and large, this period became the most fruitful in Olga’s life.
The best films of Olga Gobzeva
After receiving her diploma, Olga got a job at the Film Actor's Theater. At the same time, she performed with great pleasure in literary concerts. She also often lent her voice to Western films. Of course, she continued to act.
Her best works are the films “Captain Lying Head”, “The Magician”, “Wings”, “Portrait of the Artist’s Wife” and, of course, the melodramatic film called “One Day Twenty Years Later”. This film was released back in 1980. The main role was played by the magnificent Natalya Gundareva. And Gobzeva played this character’s classmate. On camera she turned into a poetess.
After the premiere, Olga finally became truly famous.
Colleagues
Actress Olga Gobzeva was very lucky that she worked with venerable directors. Pyotr Todorovsky, Nikolai Lukyanov, Elem Klimov, Alexander Pankratov - they all invited her to the shooting. In addition, she managed to star with such luminaries of the stage as Rimma Markova, Vasily Shukshin, Evgeny Evstigneev, Andrei Myagkov, Maya Bulgakova. But among her colleagues she always singled out only two names. This is Yuri Bogatyrev and Oleg Dal. She still considers them her favorite partners.
Olga met Dahl at school, in the theater studio. After some time, they were involved together in a film based on the works of I. S. Turgenev.
As for Bogatyrev, she worked with him on a film based on the books of science fiction writer R. Bradbury.
The untimely death of her colleagues greatly shocked the actress. She was looking for the cause of total alcoholism among her work friends. She began to think about the meaning of what was happening, including dissatisfaction with life. Sometimes she realized that the acting path was not her calling at all. She began to attend church very often. It’s probably not for nothing that she was raised in the faith...
High morals
Olga entered the theater institute only on her second attempt. She began acting in films while still a student. By the age of thirty, Gobzeva starred with such great artists as Oleg Dal, Zinovy Gerdt, Evgeny Evstigneev, Vasily Shukshin. Despite this, the directors did not give her leading roles. Her colleagues understood why: because she refused to compromise her beliefs and was a moralist. There were only a few of these in the acting community, and they stood out from the general crowd. Later, Olga said that one director, for example, believed that he was acting nobly when he offered the actress to become his mistress in exchange for the role. For Gobzeva, this option was unacceptable.
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As a result, the acting profession did not bring her satisfaction. Once, during a trip to Kyiv, Olga went to the Kiev Pechersk Lavra: just to pray, to ask God for answers to her questions. There she met a superior who prophesied that one day she would become a nun. At that moment, Olga considered this absurd, and only after a while she remembered that the words turned out to be true.
tonsure
Gobzeva’s last film work was the film “Lord, forgive us sinners.” This is an adaptation of Chekhov's work called "In the Ravine". The director was Arthur Voitetsky. In this film Olga played the role of Varvara. The film itself was released in 1992.
And the next year, just one week before her half-century anniversary, the actress finally ended her creative career.
She took monastic vows and became a nun. She began serving at the Holy Vvedensky Monastery in Ivanovo. From then on they began to call her nun Olga.
The former actress does not regret at all that her life was once inextricably linked with the world of cinema. She admitted that this experience gave her the opportunity to know herself. At the same time, I am sincerely glad that now she is no longer in the frame. According to her, at some point she was terribly ashamed that she was an actress.
In general, Olga endured this change quite calmly. She said that only in church she managed to find her true place in this life.
However, the nun still could not completely leave secular life. She continued to be of great benefit in her new capacity. Thus, with enviable activity, she fought for the restoration of one of the temples. And most importantly, in this regard, she won a convincing victory. Then she taught not only at the capital’s gymnasium, but also at Sunday school. By the way, in this institution she even became one of the leaders. She told her students about Russian spiritual poetry.
In recent years, she has chaired the coordinating council of women's organizations. They did charity work. She was also one of the leaders of the charitable department of the capital Patriarchate. In this capacity, she provided assistance and support to elderly actors.
And in 2016, she became the abbess of one of the convents in Alapaevsk.
The last chord
Olga Gobzeva with her son Svyatoslav, 1977. / Photo: www.kino-teatr.ru
She played the role of a sultry Spanish woman in one of the performances at the Film Actor's Theater. The actress herself really liked this role, just as she liked herself in this role. But after leaving the stage, she suffered a real shock. Son Svyatoslav, who never missed a single performance with his mother’s participation, simply walked past without recognizing her backstage. The director also passed by. Then she looked at herself in the mirror and was horrified. She realized that she even looked like a Spaniard. But she is originally Russian. Olga saw in her own reflection a completely different person. She played to the end and never went on stage again.
Olga Gobzeva. / Photo: www.kino-teatr.ru
The second moment that made her seek the path to God was an incident on the railroad. She and her son were almost hit by a train. She realized that the Lord had given her a sign by leaving her alive. She left the cinema, realizing that the roles were growing inside her, creating an illusion. She began attending church and taught at an Orthodox school. She agreed to live in a monastery during Lent, and there she made a conscious decision to take monastic vows.
Personal life of the actress
The actress has two marriages behind her. Olga Gobzeva’s first husband was Irakli Khizanishvili. He studied at the same institute as Olga. It was he who once played the role of Friday in the famous film about Robinson Crusoe.
They got married when they had just graduated from VGIK. This marriage lasted almost a decade. According to Gobzeva, they lost some kind of spiritual connection. Moreover, they had no children. But she called her husband’s dislike for Russia the main reason for the breakup.
In 1973, the actress married again. Her chosen one was actor Valery Martynov. He was six years younger than her. They met when they starred together in a film called “Every Day of Doctor Kalinnikova.” Olga admitted that in those days she had no shortage of attention from the stronger sex. And despite this, she chose Martynov.
After some time, the couple had their first child. The son was named Svyatoslav.
However, the birth of a common child did not save them from divorce. And ten years after the wedding, the couple decided to end their marriage...
Olga Gobzeva: why a successful actress went to a monastery
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Our actors experienced the dashing 90s in different ways. Some continued to act in “co-op films”, some became drunkards, some worked in construction. Olga Gobzeva, the only one of our actresses, took monastic vows as a nun.
Olga was born into a working-class family in Moscow in 1943. Her father was a personal driver for large officials, but at the same time remained a deeply religious man. The girl read a lot as a child, and already at the age of 12 she firmly decided to become an artist.
Film work
She was not accepted as a theater actress, but Olga entered VGIK. After graduation, she acted a lot in films and played in the theater as a film actor.
Film “Operation “Trust””
The audience remembered the pretty girl with a serious face. Among her most significant roles: “Portrait of the Artist’s Wife” , “Wings” , “Once Upon a Time 20 Years Later” (with the magnificent Natalya Gundareva ).
Olga Gobzeva: personal life
Gobzeva was married twice. First husband - Irakli Khazinishvili . They got married as soon as they both graduated from VGIK. Irakli later became known for his role as Friday in Robinson Crusoe. The family existed for almost 10 years. It was not possible to have children. The reason for the separation is not trivial: the spouses did not agree on political views on the situation in the country. Irakli now lives in the USA.
With Valery Martynov
Somewhat later, Olga remarried. This time her husband was actor Valery Martynov . After some time, a son was born into the family.
With son
Gobzeva was 6 years older than her husband. Perhaps this caused discord in the family. Valery left for another woman.
Mother Olga
The actress's latest films are 2 Ukrainian films based on the works of Chekhov, filmed in 1990 and 1992, respectively. Olga has always been a believer, visiting churches while filming in different regions. Perhaps it was also due to the fact that there was less and less work in cinema. In 1992, she became a nun under the name Olga.
Few of the actors' colleagues understood her action then. They said that she was simply playing a new role. Nun Olga did not become a recluse. She can live both in the monastery and in her modest Moscow apartment. Olga even attends foreign film festivals as part of the Russian delegation. Nun Olga took custody of some elderly actors. She found her peace and happiness in serving God.
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Heir
As a child, Gobzeva’s son Svyatoslav constantly stood at church services. Of course, her mother tried to teach her to do this.
After a while, the young man chose the spiritual path and entered the seminary. However, he was unable to complete his studies, as he dropped out in favor of journalism. He became a student of the relevant faculty.
At the moment, Svyatoslav is married. He has a daughter. Her name is Ksenia. Of course, the family lives separately from the mother. True, Olga herself admits that sharing a common life with a nun is very difficult. Therefore, according to her, it is much better and easier when relatives come to visit each other...
