Alina Pokrovskaya became famous as a film actress. She became famous for her role as Lyuba Trofimova in the film “Officers.” The actress has long been the standard of a faithful military wife. Alina Pokrovskaya herself claims that she loves theater more than cinema. A woman needs the presence of a living viewer, not a dead camera; an actress needs to feel the energy.
Therefore, there are not many films with the participation of Alina Pokrovskaya. People's Artist of the RSFSR since 1988, she prefers to perform on the stage of the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army, where she has worked since 1962. The most complete biography of Alina Pokrovskaya and details of her personal life are presented below.
Childhood
Alina Stanislavovna Pokrovskaya (Novak) managed to be born on a rare day - February 29. True, the leap year of 1940 was not suitable for a happy childhood. Alina was born into a creative family: her mother, Alexandra Andreevna Kovalenko, was a famous singer, and her father, Stanislav Karlovich Novak, worked as a philharmonic conductor. Little Alina's parents separated when she was not even a year old.
War broke out, and Alexandra Kovalenko was sent to the front as part of a propaganda brigade. Little Alina Novak was taken for evacuation from her native Donetsk to Frunze by Aunt Lina, her mother’s younger sister. They lived in the capital of Kyrgyzstan for three and a half years. Then Aunt Lina, who had completed medical courses, went to the front, and the girl went to her mother in Chimkent.
Note: “I didn’t recognize her and at first called her aunt,” Alina Pokrovskaya recalls in one interview her meeting with her mother.
Alexandra Kovalevskaya was popular in the late 40s. As part of Utesov's ensemble, the singer toured throughout the Soviet Union and took her little daughter with her. Therefore, Alina, who spent her childhood in the dressing room and behind the scenes, had no other choice.
She belonged to a creative dynasty. Her stepfather, conductor Valentin Alexandrov, helped her with this. Replacing the girl's father, he took her to performances and museums. An accident helped Alina make her debut.
In 1946, while on tour in the Baltics, a little dancer who was supposed to perform in the production “Meeting” fell ill. Isaac Dunaevsky, the director of the theater, invited Alina to dance in the play instead of her. The debut was successful. Since then, the girl has regularly appeared on stage.
Path to the stage
Alina Pokrovskaya in her youth. / Photo: www.24smi.org
She was born a year before the start of the war, on February 29, 1940, in Stalino (now Donetsk). The parents of the future actress separated when the baby was just one year old. And then there was war and evacuation, first to Astrakhan along with the Musical Drama Theater, where my mother, Alexandra Andreevna Kovalenko, served, later the family moved to Central Asia.
Alina Pokrovskaya in her youth. / Photo: www.stuki-druki.com
Alexandra Andreevna performed concerts on the front line as part of a special brigade, and little Alina remained in the care of her mother’s younger sister. When she graduated from college and went to the front, her mother took the baby again. After the war, they first settled in Vologda, then moved to Moscow. In the capital, Alina’s mother met her second husband, talented musician Valentin Alexandrov.
It was he who had a great influence on the formation of Alina’s creative personality and instilled in her a love of music. After graduating from school, Alina decided to enter theater school and was accepted into the Moscow Art Theater School and the Shchepkinsky School, which she chose to study.
Theater career
Immediately after graduating from college. Shchepkina Alina Novak was sent to work at the Soviet Army Theater, to which the actress remained faithful all her life. The young woman did not immediately become a prima singer. But the debut in the play “The Soul of a Soldier” was brilliant. Soon Alina began to receive leading roles.
Alina Pokrovskaya in the film “Officers”
Over half a century of service at the Theater of the Soviet Army (now the Central Academic Theater of the Russian Army), many performances were performed with the participation of Alina Pokrovskaya. But the actress herself names the following as her most favorite roles:
- Louise Germont in Once Upon a Time;
- Marguerite Gautier in "The Lady of the Camellias";
- Larisa in "Dowry";
- Zhenya Komelkova in “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”;
- Mary in the "Holy of Holies";
- Elena Andreevna in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya";
- Catherine in "The Finding";
- Agrippina in Britannica;
- Mary Stuart and Elizabeth Tudor in Your Sister and Captive;
- Murzavetskaya in "Wolves and Sheep".
Theater roles
It is believed that the theatrical fate, biography and personal life of the Soviet actress Alina Pokrovskaya turned out well. This is true, especially when it comes to roles. In the theater she was really lucky to embody a huge number of characters. Not a single metropolitan actress has yet managed to break Alina Stanislavovna’s record.
It doesn’t matter who Pokrovskaya played, be it the military-patriotic role of Zhenya Komelkova in the play “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” or Larisa in “Dowry” based on Ostrovsky. The magnificent Elena Andreevna in Chekhov’s play “Uncle Vanya” or the courtesan Margarita Gautier in “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas Jr. - all her images reflected at least a small part of her.
There were many turning points in the biography and personal life of Alina Pokrovskaya, but her theatrical roles are mainly of contemporaries, women whose destinies reflected the twentieth century, which was full of drama and turning point. In the play Odnoklassniki, the actress played the mother of an Afghan warrior who came back from the war as a disabled person.
At the same time, in the play “Wolves and Sheep” she played Murzavetskaya (whoever read the play or saw the performance understands what it’s about). To simultaneously play such contradictory roles requires remarkable talent.
Actor Chekhankov was convinced that having such an amazing actress was a blessing for the theater. Often Alina Stanislavovna had to go on stage twenty-five times a month, truly the theater depended on her.
Cinema
Alina Pokrovskaya's debut on the big screen went unnoticed. She starred in the supporting role of Galina in the film The Banker (1964). But the second work, Maya Sarantseva-Chernysheva in the crime detective “State Criminal” (1964), made the actress recognizable. Alina was brought to the peak of popularity by the cult Soviet film “Officers” (1971) directed by Vladimir Rogovoy.
Alina Pokrovskaya became recognizable not from her first film role
Important! For the role of Lyuba Trofimova, contemporaries dubbed Pokrovskaya “the Soviet Greta Garbo.”
The actress was unable to break her own popularity record. I didn’t even try to. As Alina has repeatedly stated, she liked the theater stage more. But Pokrovskaya could not refuse all filming offers.
The actress’s filmography includes 12 works, among which notable roles are:
- Olga Petrovna in “The Unexpected Guest”;
- Yulia Solntseva in “Origins”;
- Lucy, the headmaster's wife in "Kindness";
- Emily in the comedy-musical "Three Men in a Boat";
- the wives of General Lavrov in “Code of Dishonor”;
- Natalya Valerievna in “Family Secrets”;
- Lera's mother in "The Weaknesses of a Strong Woman."
In the last film, released in 2006, the actress played the main role.
Alina Pokrovskaya in the film “Three in a Boat, Not Counting the Dog”
Personal life
TV viewers remember Alina Pokrovskaya as the faithful wife of an officer, devoted to her only man. In the real personal life of the actress, everything was a little different and more confusing. For the first time, Alina Novak got married early. The student fell in love with the teacher, Alexei Pokrovsky.
This marriage, due to the large age difference between the spouses, did not last long. The actress kept her first husband's surname. And she didn’t change it, even when she got married again. The second time Pokrovskaya decided to visit the registry office after much hesitation. Alina's chosen one, a colleague at the Soviet Army Theater, actor Vladimir Soshalsky, was known as a ladies' man.
The heartthrob has only been officially married five times. He had affairs with actresses Olga Aroseva, Nina Olkhina, Ninel Podgornaya, Maria Skuratova, Nonna Mordyukova. Soshalsky knew how to look after beautifully, and told his new chosen one that she had completely crowded out the previous beauties from her heart, and all his wives left him.
Alina Pokrovskaya made up her mind. She soon realized that Soshalsky remained true to his nature. He also had other shortcomings: the actor loved noisy parties, disappeared in restaurants or brought friends to his house. Alina wanted children, but Soshalsky had a daughter from Ninel Podgornaya, the man was not going to have new heirs.
Pokrovskaya put up with her husband for ten whole years, hoping that he would come to his senses, turned a blind eye to the infidelities, but, in the end, filed for divorce. Only in her third marriage did Alina find family happiness. With actor German Yushko, she often played a couple in love on the stage of the Soviet Army Theater. Soon the connection between them became real.
Alina Pokrovskaya's third husband - German Yushko
German Ivanovich passed away after a serious illness in 2010. Before and after his death, Alina Pokrovskaya always spoke with particular warmth about her third husband. “He was a real man,” she said, “he did everything in the house himself. He was always able to support and never complained.”
In her marriage to German, Pokrovskaya was able to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother. In 1974, her son Alexey was born. The young man did not follow in the footsteps of his parents, but having received a honors diploma from the Faculty of History, he got a job in the sources department of the State Historical Museum. Alexey is married and has a son, Maxim.
Alina Pokrovskaya, children
The actress always dreamed of real family happiness, but her dream came true only on the third try. One of the components of a full-fledged family, according to the actress, is the children of Alina Pokrovskaya
, but not all the men with whom fate brought her together dreamed of the same thing.
Her first marriage was very early - she married her teacher, who was much older, but the union was short-lived and the family quickly fell apart. For the second time, Pokrovskaya married her colleague, actor Vladimir Soshalsky, with whom she lived for almost ten years. It was not an easy life - the actress’s husband loved noisy companies, restaurants, and feasts. In the photo - actress Alina Pokrovskaya
Before this, Soshalsky had already been married several times, his daughter was growing up, so he did not strive for Alina Pokrovskaya’s children to appear in his new family. And the actress herself understood that it was impossible to raise children in the environment that existed in their home. Tired of her husband’s wild life, Pokrovskaya filed for divorce. And only the third marriage helped Alina Pokrovskaya’s dream come true - to have children. The actress played with German Yushko on the stage of the Soviet Army Theater. They very often got the roles of lovers, and mutual feelings between them arose almost imperceptibly. Soon their stage love grew into real love.
Only in her marriage to German Yushko was Alina Stanislavovna able to find out what a real family is. He turned out to be a real man who could do everything - work, household chores. He built the dacha himself, knew how to cook well and never complained about anything. When their son Alexey was born, Pokrovskaya was finally able to recognize maternal happiness. Alexey did not follow in his parents’ footsteps and chose the profession of a historian. Now he works at the State Historical Museum in the sources department. The actress lived with her third husband for almost forty years - until his death. She took this loss seriously, and only Alina Pokrovskaya’s children - Alexei, his wife, and the actress’s grandson Maxim - helped her cope with grief.
In the photo - Alina Pokrovskaya in the film "Officers" She often visits them at their dacha near Moscow when they have free time, because even now the actress has a lot of work - she signs up for the radio, takes part in concerts, plays in the theater. With cinema, according to Pokrovskaya, despite the great success of the films in which she starred, her romance did not work out. The actress says that she needs a viewer, live eyes, but this is not available on the set. Also read: Victoria Tolstoganova, children and Sofia Rotaru, children
Frequently asked questions about Pokrovskaya
- Many film fans are interested in Alina’s relationship with the recently deceased actress Alla Pokrovskaya. These women are not related. Alla is the namesake of Alina’s first husband, Alexei Pokrovsky.
- In 2021, admirers of the actress’s talent were interested in what Alina was doing now. On February 29, she celebrated her 80th birthday. The troupe of the Russian Army Theater warmly congratulated the old-timer. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also joined in the congratulations.
Alina Pokrovskaya on the theater stage, the love for which she carried throughout her life
Interesting Facts
- Alina Pokrovskaya celebrates her birthday every four years. After all, she was born on February 29, the leap year of 1940.
- The actress's voice can be heard in the Russian dubbing of Gone with the Wind.
Note: The actress does not use the Internet, she does not have accounts on social networks.
As we can see, Alina Pokrovskaya had a difficult war childhood. But the woman was able to realize her dream and became an actress. Alina carried her love for theater throughout her life, despite the fact that the actress reached the peak of her popularity in cinema.
