Lyudmila Savelyeva is a woman who is a famous Soviet and Russian actress, both theater and cinema. Lyudmila managed to star in a huge number of films and earned the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR, which she received in 1985. Her journey began at a very tragic time, both for Russia itself and for the whole world, because the girl was born in the midst of hostilities, but be that as it may, the woman was destined to overcome and go through many obstacles, to become recognizable and famous.
A star is born
In besieged Leningrad in 1942, a girl was born, whom her mother and grandmother could hardly bring out. They had to look after the baby for a long time in order to strengthen their health, undermined by cold and hunger. Lyudochka grew up, and very soon her family noticed that the little girl loved to listen to classical music on the radio, and then she began to dance in front of the mirror, inventing the first ballet steps in her life.
Watching her granddaughter, the grandmother decided to take her to a ballet school. Lyudmila graduated from college. Vaganova and was immediately enrolled in the troupe of the theater. Kirov. Lyudmila was young and talented, many believed that she would have a brilliant ballet career. But fate decreed otherwise.
Lyudmila Savelyeva - biography
Lyudmila Savelyevna was born in 1942 in besieged Leningrad at the height of the famine, and the fact that she managed to survive during this terrible time can be considered a real miracle.
The girl went to school when the country gradually began to return to peaceful life and build its new future.
Lyudmila grew up as a capable child, showing creative abilities. At the age of 11, the girl began studying ballet and quickly found herself among the most promising students. It is not surprising that, after graduating from school, she entered the Vaganova Choreographic School, and when she graduated in 1962, she was accepted into the troupe of the Kirov Opera and Ballet Theater, which is now called the Mariinsky. The talent of the young ballerina was clearly revealed on the stage of this theater, and no one doubted that she would soon become a prima ballerina, but, as always, by chance her life changed dramatically.
When director Sergei Bondarchuk began filming his legendary film “War and Peace” in 1964, it turned out that auditions for the role of Natasha Rostova, although the most famous actresses of that time took part in them, did not bring any results and the director was unable to find the right one. type. The director’s attention was drawn to Savelyeva by his assistant, who saw the ballerina in the film adaptation of the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty.”
Lyudmila was invited to Moscow for an audition, but when he saw her live, Bondarchuk said that she was not suitable for this role, and only after she was given makeup, put on a wig and forced to read texts and communicate with different characters, he came to the conclusion, that he was wrong, and approved Lyudmila for the role of Natasha Rostova.
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At first, Savelyeva combined filming and ballet, but such a busy schedule was beyond the strength of the fragile girl. From severe exhaustion, she began to faint, and the question arose that a choice had to be made between ballet and cinema. Lyudmila chose filming and never regretted it.
Filming lasted four years, and when the film was released, it was a huge success, receiving an Oscar and several prizes at other film festivals. By the way, the debutante actress did not go unnoticed - she won two prizes at the Moscow Film Festival, and, in addition, gained worldwide fame.
Since Savelyeva’s first role was very responsible, she decided not to lower the bar further and very carefully chose the scripts that were offered to her. Subsequently, she starred in such films as “Running”, “Sunflowers” (France, Italy, USSR), “The Seagull”, “The Headless Horseman” (Cuba, USSR), “Yulia Vrevskaya (Bulgaria, USSR) , “It was the fourth year of the war” and others, showing the audience the versatility of his talent.
The period of the 90s for the actress, like for many of her colleagues, turned out to be stagnant, and only in 1999 she returned to filming again, taking part in such films as “The Secret of Nardo, or The Dream of a White Dog”, “A Tender Age” " and "Clock without hands." Then a creative break followed again, after which the actress starred in two more films - “7th Heaven” (2006) and “Anna Karenina” (2009), in which she played Countess Shcherbatskaya.
Unexpected offer
One day, Sergei Bondarchuk’s acting assistant Likhachev noticed her. The director categorically forbade her to look for candidates for the role among the ballerinas, but Tatyana Sergeevna bypassed this ban and brought Savelyeva to audition.
For a long time Bondarchuk could not choose an actress for the role of Natasha Rostova in his film “War and Peace”. He considered Savelyeva not the best contender: her appearance was inexpressive, her auditions were unsuccessful, and she had a complete lack of experience in filming. The most beautiful and talented Soviet actresses took part in the auditions: Natalya Fateeva, Natalya Kustinskaya, Anastasia Vertinskaya.
When the assistant suggested that the director watch Savelyev, he doubted. The ballerina was denied a photo test. Bondarchuk considered her completely unsuitable for the role of Natasha. He agreed to watch it only in order to somehow soften the bitterness of refusal. Sergei Fedorovich considered Lyudmila too young for such a complex role, but when she appeared on the set in costume and makeup, he realized that he had made the right choice. Later, he did not regret it - millions of viewers around the world fell in love with Lyudmila and was recognized as the best actress who managed to embody the image of Natasha Rostova on the screen.
Biography and personal life of Lyudmila Savelyeva
The biography and personal life of Lyudmila Savelyeva dates back to a difficult period for all peoples living on the territory of the Soviet Union. The birth of our heroine took place in mid-1942. The father of the future star, like many Soviet citizens, was at the front. The mother remained in her hometown, but after the birth of the baby she moved from Leningrad to the Urals for some time.
The baby was creatively talented. She loved to dance. Luda dreamed of becoming a ballerina. She passed a difficult selection and began to study at one of the most famous ballet schools in the country. Teachers appreciated her choreographic talent. They believed that in the future Savelyeva would shine on the ballet stage like Anna Pavlova. After graduating from college, the girl began dancing on the stage of the popular Mariinsky Theater.
In 1964, the ballerina's fate changed dramatically. During her performance in the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty,” the girl was noticed by the famous Soviet film director, who was looking for an actress to play the role of Natasha Rostova in his new film “War and Peace.” At first Lyudmila refused. She believed that she would not be able to perform as needed. But Bondarchuk was able to convince the artist. After the film was released across the country, Savelyeva woke up famous. For her role she received a prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1967, our heroine leaves the Mariinsky Theater and begins playing in one of the capital's theaters. Since then, the actress has embodied many characters on stage. She played in many films. Currently, the artist devotes all her time to her husband and daughter, who is terminally ill. A woman carries her cross with dignity while caring for her daughter. She hopes that soon everything will change for the better in her life. The War and Peace star dreams that her daughter will recover and be able to lead a normal life.
Difficult choice
Savelyeva completely devoted herself to this role, torn between the set and the theater. It was necessary to choose: ballet or cinema. In her youth, she dreamed of becoming the prima of the theater. Kirov, but was forced to give up her dream. After much deliberation, the aspiring actress chose a career as an actress. As time has shown, she was not mistaken. However, life presented her with more and more surprises, forcing her to doubt the correctness of her decision.
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Life after the ball
The film, directed by S. F. Bondarchuk, turned Lyudmila Savelyeva into a world-famous star. And the picture itself became one of the most expensive in USSR cinema. Its filming lasted almost six years, and the scene of the Battle of Borodino is still considered one of the largest in the history of world cinema.
After the release of the film “War and Peace” on the screens, Lyudmila Savelyeva became a popular favorite. The debut actress received two awards at the Moscow Film Festival - the Audience Award and for Best Debut. In the United States, War and Peace was a resounding success. The film was awarded an Oscar and received many other film awards in Europe.
The American film adaptation of this novel had already been filmed at that time. In it, the role of Natasha Rostova was played by the inimitable Audrey Hepburn, but Savelyeva managed to outshine her and win the hearts of viewers all over the world, including American ones.
Savelyeva was admired by Giulietta Masina and Federico Fellini, her photo graced the covers of all foreign publications. After the release of the film, many mothers in Europe named their newborn daughters Natasha. It was Lyudmila who received the coveted statuette when the film was awarded a high award.
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Savelyeva became a participant in international film festivals and starred in the film “Sunflowers” by Vittorio De Sica, shot by Soviet and Italian filmmakers. She worked on the same set with such masters of world cinema as Marcello Mastroianni and Sophia Loren.
Savelyeva Lyudmila Mikhailovna is from Leningrad. She was born on January 24, 1942. Having survived the blockade and other horrors of the war, little Luda began to be drawn to art from an early age. She took up ballet at the age of eleven, and then became a student at one of the very first and internationally respected ballet schools - the Agrippina Vaganova School of Choreography in Leningrad. After finishing her studies, she got a job at the Leningrad State Opera and Ballet Theater named after Kirov, known today as the Mariinsky Theater. Being one of the brightest and most talented ballerinas, Savelyeva shone in the ballet productions “Giselle” and “Sleeping Beauty”. They predicted her fate as a theater soloist when she suddenly left ballet for a film role. However, it was not just a role, but Natasha Rostova herself in the historical drama of the famous Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk “War and Peace”. Savelyeva was unconditionally approved for the role, beating out several strong contenders. Many did not understand why Bondarchuk bet on the ballerina without taking one of the professional film actresses, but with the release of the film all questions disappeared. In the image of the charming Natasha Rostova, Lyudmila Savelyeva gained worldwide fame and the love of millions of viewers. For several years of work on the set of the film, the actress was awarded for the best acting debut at one of the oldest film forums in the country - the Moscow Film Festival.
After finishing filming the film based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy, Lyudmila officially began her career as a film actress, joining the acting team of the State Film Actor Theater, within whose walls she met her future husband and the father of her daughter, the famous actor Alexander Viktorovich Zbruev. Unlike many acting marriages, the marriage of Savelyeva and Zbruev has lasted for decades. Having once made a choice in favor of cinema, Lyudmila Savelyeva starred in about two dozen films. Such a small list of works can be explained by the fact that the actress always thought very carefully before agreeing to the next role offered to her. If she had even a shadow of a doubt that the character was not suitable for her or that she did not like the script, she preferred to refuse to participate in the filming rather than to star in a “passable” film or not the most successful role. Throughout her entire career as an actress, she has never appeared as a negative heroine. After previously receiving worldwide recognition, the actress repeatedly starred in foreign films, shoulder to shoulder with famous foreign actors. So in the 1970 film “Sunflowers” directed by Vittorio De Sica, which was filmed simultaneously in studios of the USSR, Italy and France, she played one of the main roles along with Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni. Among the most successful films with the participation of the actress are also the military-historical drama “Running”, the adventure film by Vladimir Weinshtok “The Headless Horseman”, the historical film about the life of the Russian countess “Yulia Vrevskaya”, the war film “It was the fourth year of the war”, the melodrama “ A black rose is an emblem of sadness, a red rose is an emblem of love” and many others.
Since the beginning of the 2000s, Lyudmila Mikhailovna appeared several times in television series such as “7th Heaven” and “Bus”. In 2008, another film was released - an adaptation of the classic novel with the participation of Lyudmila Savelyeva. In the film “Anna Karenina” she played the role of Princess Shcherbatskaya. Later, in Andrei Selivanov’s television film “Mothers and Daughters,” released in 2009, the actress played a doctor named Irina Sergeevna. In 2012, the People's Artist of the RSFSR celebrated her seventieth anniversary.
Further acting fate
Lyudmila Savelyeva began to receive numerous offers from famous directors, but she constantly refused them. No, she did not plan to leave cinema, but she really wanted to play a role that would be different from the image of Natasha Rostova. She was not tempted by the fate of an actress of one role and again and again playing naive girls.
She decided for herself that she would only act in the film that “hooked” her. There was no second option for her. It was during this period of her life that the actress increasingly began to be visited by thoughts of a mistaken decision to leave ballet.
Nevertheless, when the film “Running” by Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov was released in 1970, Savelyeva played the role of Serafima Korzukhina in it and proved, first of all, to herself that she was a versatile actress - her role was not limited to the role of Natasha Rostova.
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After filming, the widow of Mikhail Bulgakov, based on whose novel the film was based, invited the talented actress to dinner. Many years have passed since then, but even today Lyudmila Savelyeva keeps the scarf that Elena Shilovskaya, who was the last love and muse of the famous writer, gave her.
Filmography: films starring Lyudmila Savelyeva
The actress played in several dozen films over the course of 40 years. With her appearance in the role of Natasha Rostova in the film “War and Peace,” her filmography begins to expand at a rapid pace. The audience was waiting for films with Lyudmila Savelyeva in the title role. They watched with great attention the development of the actress’s creative activity. After War and Peace, the star played in Sunflowers, The Seagull, The Headless Horseman and many others.
In the 80s, the artist played one of the main roles in “From Evening to Noon”, “Success” and many others.
In the difficult 90s, Savelyeva suddenly stopped acting. She did not play a single role for almost 11 years. But Lyudmila dreamed of appearing on the silver screen again. Her dreams came true. At the beginning of the new millennium, Savelyeva's star twinkled again. She appeared in "A Tender Age", "Clock Without Hands" and several others. Recently, women have been offered only episodic roles, but she has to refuse them due to family problems.
Love on set
It was impossible not to fall in love with the charming, fragile and spontaneous Lucy, as the actress was called on the set. The girl won the hearts of everyone around her. Lyudmila also met her fate at Mosfilm. In the neighboring pavilion, Alexander Zbruev was filmed in the film “Chistye Prudy” by Alexei Sakharov. They met in the corridor of a film studio. The famous actor immediately forgot about his recent divorce from actress Valentina Malyavina.
A fragile and delicate beauty with wide blue eyes won Alexander’s heart at first sight. Lyudmila also liked the attractive, funny guy and joker.
Off screen
Lyudmila Savelyeva met her future husband, Alexander Zbruev, during her creative success. She actively starred in the film “War and Peace”. In addition, she liked the actor’s image in the film “My Little Brother.”
Love came to the girl. The beginning of a romantic relationship is an invitation to a restaurant for a superficial acquaintance. The role of Natasha Rostova brought the actress not only recognition from the audience. But also Zbruev’s love. After the actress was appointed to this role, Alexander began to persistently court Lyudmila.
Family life
Soon Lyudmila and Alexander got married, and a year later a little princess appeared in the family, whom her parents named Natasha in honor of the heroine of Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace.” The girl grew up as a versatile and talented child who showed great promise. She starred in the film “If you believe Lopotukhin” by Mikhail Kazakov.
However, as a teenager, she experienced a personal tragedy that negatively affected the girl’s health. Parents carefully protect Natasha’s fragile health, so there are never photographers or journalists in their house. Especially after photographs of Natalya, who was hospitalized after an accidental injury, appeared on the pages of all yellow publications.
Lyudmila Savelyeva - personal life
Lyudmila met her future husband Alexander Zbruev when she was filming the film “War and Peace,” and at that time he was already a well-known actor, and, moreover, was divorced. Having met in one of the capital's restaurants, the young people instantly fell in love with each other and soon got married. This happened in 1967, and in 1968 the couple had a daughter, Natalya, and their family life was quite happy.
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However, a few years later this happiness was overshadowed - Zbruev fell in love with the young actress Elena Shanina, who gave birth to his daughter Tatyana.
Despite the fact that Lyudmila Mikhailovna found out about this connection and the birth of an illegitimate child, she did not want to break family ties, and Zbruev himself decided to stay in the family.
Many are interested in Lyudmila Savelyeva and Alexander Zbruev - their common daughter Natalya. As you know, the couple managed to save their marriage and now live together, but never discuss their personal life with journalists, and as for their daughter, she made her film debut as a teenager, playing a minor role in the film “If you believe Lopotukhin,” but later she never realized herself in cinema.
Many viewers, having not seen the actress on screen lately, are interested in where Lyudmila Savelyeva lives now and what she does, why she is sick.
Despite the fact that the actress celebrated her anniversary in 2021 - she turned 75 years old, she does not particularly complain about her health. In recent years, Lyudmila Mikhailovna has devoted herself completely to her family, and has also finally found time to relax - she takes care of herself, walks a lot and reads.
Love against all odds
Once again, life tested the actress’s strength. This happened when Savelyeva learned that her husband had had a second family for many years, in which her daughter was growing up. She was very worried about this situation, but she never let her husband understand in a single word how painful and bitter she was.
Lyudmila Mikhailovna and Alexander Viktorovich managed to overcome all difficulties and save their family. They meet their decline with dignity, not remembering past grievances, maintaining respect. Today, the actress only regrets that none of the directors thought of using her talent as a ballerina. Surely she could cope with this role brilliantly.
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