Biography
After the release of the cult film “We'll Live Until Monday,” actress Irina Pechernikova woke up famous. Its popularity went far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union. Abroad, Pechernikova was called “the Soviet Audrey Hepburn with the eyes of a deer.” Probably, it was then that the young artist realized that her childhood dream had come true in full.
Childhood and youth
Irina Viktorovna Pechernikova was born in Grozny in early September 1945. Soon after the birth of their daughter, the family moved to the capital. On Leninsky Prospect, where the Pechernikovs settled, lived the famous actress Rufina Nifontova. Even then, the future star of the school saga dreamed of the stage. She secretly carried flowers to the famous Nifontova, but could not decide to hand the bouquet into her hands. Therefore, Ira quietly placed flowers under the door and ran away. But one day I decided. When the unattainable star opened the door, the girl stammered that she also dreamed of becoming an actress and asked what was needed for this. Rufina Dmitrievna, after thinking, answered briefly in her rough, hoarse voice: “That’s it.” And closed the door.
Published by Elena Afanasyeva Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Irina Pechernikova in her youth
After such a comprehensive answer, Pechernikova signed up for all the clubs at once: gymnastics, figure skating and even fencing. But most importantly, she began to attend a drama club, which was led by a student of the great Vsevolod Meyerhold. It was she who managed to prepare Irina for admission, and chose the university for her: certainly the Moscow Art Theater.
However, Irina Pechernikova had no confidence that she would get in. As the actress claimed, she did it by accident. I decided that first I would work for a year at the V. Mayakovsky Theater, take a closer look at the artists, and go to enroll the next year.
And Irina looked into the Moscow Art Theater School only to see what others were doing. She timidly opened the doors to the studio where the exam was being taken, and was immediately noticed. The girl was invited in and asked how old she was. She was 16, but she added another year. And the girl looked thin and short and was no more than 13. She had a huge nylon bow on her head. Clothing: a brown school dress and white socks. Therefore, the answer “17” was met with friendly laughter.
When asked to read something, Pechernikova recited the poem “Setter Jack” by Vera Inber and recited an excerpt from the play “Dasha, or the Story of a Puppy’s Life” by Karel Capek. And again laughter. Nevertheless, she was accepted.
Lessons of loneliness: why Irina Pechernikova searched for happiness for so long
The story of Irina Pechernikova is a clear illustration of the life of an entire generation of Russian intelligentsia. Success, prosperity and comfort in the 70s and total lack of demand in the 90s. She did not have the tenacity and ability to adapt to stay afloat. But she had enough self-esteem and inner strength to remain herself.
Made it to Monday
She said to herself: “I was raised by a communal apartment.” They moved from Grozny to a large Moscow apartment, where ten other families lived besides the Pechernikovs. Irina Viktorovna’s parents were geophysicists, and her neighbors in the communal apartment were also selected from representatives of the intelligentsia - university teachers, doctors of science and even an academician.
Pechernikova was the ringleader and the first hooligan in her yard. She was even kicked out of kindergarten for biting her classmate. However, at school Irina was among the best students. And even then I began to dream about the stage.
The famous actress Rufina Nifontova lived next door to the Pechernikovs. One day Irina plucked up courage and asked her: “What do you need to be able to do to become an actress?”
Nifontova replied: “That’s it.” And Pechernikova took up literally “everything”: dancing, fencing, horse riding, figure skating. At the age of 13, she entered a drama club led by Meyerhold’s student Ekaterina Sokolova. This gave the girl the necessary foundation, but did not increase her self-confidence: she came to the exams at the Moscow Art Theater School without much hope of being accepted. When the commission asked how old she was, Irina answered: “Seventeen,” adding a year to her age. Everyone burst out laughing - she looked at most like an eighth-grader. But her fragile insecurity touched the examiners - Pechernikova was accepted into the school.
Already in her second year, she played her first serious role in the production of “The Winter of Our Anxiety.” And at the graduation performance “Talents and Admirers,” film director Vladimir Gorikker drew attention to Irina, who invited her to play the role of Donna Anna in the opera film “The Stone Guest.” New horizons opened up for the talented graduate. At the same time, Gaidai offered her the role of “Prisoner of the Caucasus,” but Irina refused in favor of the classics.
She did not stay to serve at the Moscow Art Theater - she chose Lenkom, where the legendary director Anatoly Efros worked at that time. Pechernikova set the creative bar high, and that is why she almost refused the role in the film “We'll Live Until Monday” - she thought that it would be just another ideological nonsense. But after reading the script, I was hooked. Director Stanislav Rostotsky chose Irina from three contenders - she competed with the more experienced Svetlana Svetlichnaya and Valentina Shendrikova.
So, at the age of 22, Pechernikova received a role that became the main one in her life.
Vysotsky relations
Personal life
The actress's first husband was the Polish musician Zbigniew Bison. The young people met when the actress broke both legs during filming. Friends, in order to shake her up, took her to a concert of the jazz group “Bisons”. This is how Zbigniew saw her - with a stick. The romance broke out instantly.
The couple called each other for a long time and corresponded. Then, in order not to be torn between countries, they decided to sign. But they could not live together for long: Irina missed the theater. The actress missed her family a lot. It couldn't go on like this for long. The couple broke up.
The second time Irina Pechernikova’s personal life changed after meeting with actor Boris Galkin. The young people met at the Maly Theater, where the artist served at that time, and Galkin staged his graduation performance. First he fell in love with her portrait hanging in the foyer, and then with the “original” itself. A couple of months after they met, they got married. But Boris loved Irina, and at that time she only loved the theater.
Published by Leonid Varichenko Saturday, September 2, 2017
Irina Pechernikova and Boris Galkin
According to the actress, true love came to her at the age of 51, when the actress again met Alexander Solovyov, who played Handsome in “The Green Van.” They met back in 1969. But not then, but much later, in 1986, they realized that there was not just attraction between them, but true love. But at that time Solovyov’s little son was growing up. Irina did not want to break up her family and build happiness on the broken destinies of others.
They met again in the late 1990s. Alexander's son grew up and became a student.
In 1997, Pechernikova and Solovyov got married in a church on Arbat. Fate gave them a short 3 years of great, incredible happiness. And on the eve of 2000, the actor was found with a head injury in a flowerbed. He died without regaining consciousness in the Sklifosovsky clinic on January 1. And if the policeman who found the actor had not remembered that he had seen him in the Green Van, Solovyov would have been buried as an unknown person.
Published by Lesya Avdeenko Saturday, March 16, 2019
Irina Pechernikova and Alexander Solovyov
The actress spent six months in the hospital with a severe nervous disorder. Then there were many years of terrible depression and reluctance to live and see people. It seems that only recently the famous actress began to see the world in colors and at least occasionally appear in public.
It so happened that the actress did not have her own children, but Pechernikova learned to find harmony in all manifestations of life. Back in the 90s, the actress purchased a village house, where she spent time from May to October. The actress had a small vegetable garden and loved walks in the forest. According to friends, Pechernikova was known as an excellent cook; Irina Viktorovna considered borscht and pies to be her strong point.
In her younger years, Irina Pechernikova easily mastered foreign languages. The actress learned French in a semester at the Moscow Art Theater School, and mastered spoken English during her month in London. Until her last days, Irina Pechernikova spoke Polish well.
Another hobby of the actress, which she has maintained since her student days, is studying the works of Leonardo da Vinci. Irina was convinced that she would have something to talk about with this person if there was a possibility of such a meeting.
Before her death, Irina Pechernikova played her last love
At the Amur Autumn festival in Blagoveshchensk in mid-September, Irina Pechernikova could present her first work in many years of absence from cinema. In the film "Elsa's Land" based on the play by Yaroslava Pulinovich, which was directed by Yulia Kolesnik, she played the main role. Filming took place in Altai in May last year.
The characters of Pechernikova and Veniamin Smekhov are over 70, but they fell in love with each other. Elsa is ethnically German. She was recently widowed, lost her unloved husband and must mourn. She never had to leave her village. Elsa meets the former geographer Leonid. He is retired and a stranger in her village. And no one would have cared about this if late love had not flared up. The elderly heroes dream of leaving somewhere in search of a dream, but this is not included in the plans of their children and grandchildren and threatens their material well-being. War has been declared on lovers.
Irina Pechernikova was the first beauty of Soviet cinema; she starred a lot in the late 1960s and 1970s. She became a star in Stanislav Rostotsky’s film “We’ll Live Until Monday,” where she played a teacher, and Vyacheslav Tikhonov became her screen partner. This is probably her main role in the movie. Although we have yet to watch and evaluate Elsa's Land. Her best films are “First Love” by Vasily Ordynsky after Turgenev, “Cities and Years” by Alexander Zarkhi, “Pages of Pechorin’s Magazine” by Anatoly Efros, where she played Princess Mary, and Oleg Dal played Pechorin.
Irina Pechernikova was born on September 2, 1945 in Grozny. Her parents were geophysicists. Then there was a move to Moscow. Before entering the Moscow Art Theater School, Irina turned to Maly Theater actress Rufina Nifontova for advice and began preparation on all fronts. She did everything from fencing to figure skating and equestrian sports. This is how she prepared herself for an acting career and immediately entered the Moscow Art Theater School-Studio.
She could have starred in “Prisoner of the Caucasus” by Gaidai, but preferred the role of Donna Anna in the opera film “The Stone Guest” by Gorikker, which became her film debut. Irina knew how to make choices that seemed strange to some. She preferred the Moscow Art Theater to the Lenin Komsomol Theater, where Anatoly Efros worked. Then there was a decade at the Mayakovsky Theater, a completely successful career at the Maly Theater.
The beauty of Soviet cinema lived an extraordinary life for those times. She married a Pole, went to Europe, visited places where no Soviet person had gone before. Then there was a second marriage. Actor Boris Galkin became her life partner.
Pechernikova had a crazy affair with the handsome married actor Alexander Solovyov, who was torn between two women. The violent passion continued for three years, until Alexander was killed on January 1, 2000. Nothing was said exactly about what happened then. They accused the police of beating him - there are still many versions to this day. Life was stormy and dramatic.
She had problems with alcohol, and at some point Pechernikova herself started talking about them. Coping with addiction was difficult. There was a pause in my career. It seemed like forever.
But in 1990, Irina starred in “Anna Karamazoff” with Rustam Khamdamov, then there were invitations to TV series. And now - “Elsa’s Land”, which became her last film work. In any case, this was a strong test for her. To wait for the role in spite of everything, when everyone had long ago given up on her career... Perhaps she could not withstand the powerful emotions. And for many actors, an anniversary is extremely stressful, so they often pass away before or after the big date. Fragile natures cannot stand it.
A year ago, the film “Martin Eden,” based on the novel by Jack London, directed by Italian director Pietro Marcello, who was in love with Russia, took part in the competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film adaptation was inspired by the Soviet television play by Sergei Evlakhishvili, staged in 1976, where the main roles were played by Yuri Bogatyrev and Irina Pechernikova. Pietro obliged his actors to watch the performance. He searched for a long time for the performer of the main female role, dreaming that she would definitely look like the Russian actress Irina Pechernikova, whom he idolized. He dreamed of meeting her someday. Did not have time.
The star and death of Irina Pechernikova: images in photographs
See photo gallery on the topic
Theater
The creative biography of Irina Pechernikova began already in the 2nd year of the Studio School. She was entrusted with a complex and at the same time interesting role in the production of “The Winter of Our Anxiety.” The aspiring actress immediately learned what theatrical intrigue was. Behind the thin partition of the dressing room, Irina heard how envious older colleagues discussed her, still just a girl who had never had time to kiss. Because the student was entrusted with such a responsible role, they suspected her of having a love affair with two directors at once.
Irina cried for a long time, huddled in the theater scenery. The director heard her sobs and howls. Then he gave the aspiring artist practical advice:
“Remember: if they gossip about you, then you are either an extraordinary woman or a talented actress. You will cry when they stop talking about you.”
Published by Elvira Yablonskaya Tuesday, September 1, 2020
Actress Irina Pechernikova
Since then, Pechernikova has heard similar conversations behind her back more than once. Sometimes the rumors were true, but more often they were not.
After graduation, Irina Viktorovna was accepted into Lenkom, where she worked for 2 years, until 1968. But then she moved to the V. Mayakovsky Theater, which she dreamed of going to as a teenager after seeing “Hamlet.” The actress stayed in Mayakovka for 10 years. From there she was lured to his theater, Academic Maly, by the famous director Mikhail Ivanovich Tsarev. True, he immediately warned that they “will be eating it” for two years, but it looks “edible.”
And so it happened. Irina Pechernikova was hated. They envied her with black envy. After all, the “new girl” took away all the repertoire roles. It often happened that they called her before the premiere and, in insinuating voices, threatened to disfigure her face with acid or bring a terrible curse.
When Tsarev, whom the artist idolized, died, her life in the theater lost its meaning. The best roles were played. She became bored and uninteresting. In addition, the “dashing 90s” began, which ruined the careers of many actors. Pechernikova was no exception. Out of hopelessness and uselessness, the actress began to drink. She managed to stop only on the edge of the abyss.
Irina Pechernikova: the first steps of the actress
Irina was born after the war in 1945, on September 2, in the glorious city of Grozny. The family of the future actress did not stay there for long and moved to Moscow. Like all girls, little Irisha dreamed of acting in films and being famous. In the capital, she was lucky enough to live next door to theater artist Rufina Nifontova. Having once asked her about what she needed to do in order to become the same as her, the little girl heard the answer: “Everything.” With this word, Pechernikova’s path to fame began.
Irina did everything she could. There was so much on her list: gymnastics, figure skating, shooting, fencing, horse riding and, of course, amateur theater.
After school, the girl easily entered the Moscow Art Theater and in her second year received an excellent role in the play “The Winter of Our Anxiety.” Along with her first success, envious people and gossipers appeared, but Irina soon realized that the more they talked about her, the more her popularity in the art world grew. In the theater, the beautiful young actress immediately took over all the significant roles, for which her female colleagues disliked her. Soon the atmosphere became so tense that the theater had to be abandoned.
Movies
The cinematic biography of Irina Pechernikova was just as successful as the theatrical one. This becomes clear after listing her film partners: Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Oleg Dal, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Vladimir Vysotsky, Yuri Bogatyrev.
After a successful start in the films “The Stone Guest” and “First Love,” Stanislav Rostotsky offered the young actress a role in his poignant film “We’ll Live Until Monday.” The director was looking for a new, “unexposed” face. The film was released in 1968. Pechernikova played the English teacher Natalya Gorelova in one go. Later, Irina Viktorovna admitted that it was not a game, but pure pleasure. Because on the set there was an atmosphere of universal love and respect, which only Rostotsky could “introduce.”
After the film, they started talking about the romance between Pechernikova and Tikhonov. In fact, there was no romance. The young actress was not only embarrassed to flirt with the master, the girl was even afraid to breathe in front of him. There really was a love, but in her memoirs the artist called it “respectful.”
There was no romance with Oleg Dahl, although Irina Pechernikova was really in love with the star. In order to film with him, the artist, already famous throughout the country, agreed to play an episode in the film “Omega Option”. But Dahl was married. His wife Lisa worked as an editor and turned out to be an interesting and bright personality. The couple walked everywhere holding hands. Therefore, apart from friendly relations, there could be nothing else with Dahl.
Irina Pechernikova in the film “We’ll Live Until Monday”
The affair attributed to Pechernikova with Vladimir Vysotsky also turned out to be a half-truth. The couple played together in the film “The Tale of How Tsar Peter Married an Arab.” In her memoirs, the actress shared that at the very beginning of their acquaintance, Vysotsky irritated her terribly. The artist was often drunk and tried to pinch her. The acquaintance turned out to be non-standard. Irina, hearing the bard sing for the first time, quietly said: “Wow, he’s disgusting, but he wrote such a song!” But in the silence that hung after the performance of the song, Vysotsky heard these words. Perhaps to hide his offense or surprise, he laughed loudly.
Later, when the actress returned to Moscow after a short stay in Poland, they met again. For Pechernikova, the work of the country-famous Vysotsky was completely unknown. She asked if he had written anything else besides "Sail". And again she incredibly surprised and made the bard laugh.
It seems he really was in love with the doe-eyed actress. Otherwise, I would not have asked Ira’s father to let his daughter go for 3 days. Having received consent, Vysotsky put the unsuspecting Pechernikova in the car and took her to the airport. They flew together to Adler, and from there they went to Gagra. There, Vladimir starred with Oleg Dahl in the film “A Bad Good Man.” On the second day, the bard gave a concert in Sukhumi. Like all his concerts, this one was sold out. Vysotsky dedicated many of his songs to his beautiful companion, who blushed when everyone turned to look at her.
However, the bard loved Marina Vladi. But Pechernikova didn’t want to be a mistress.
Irina Pechernikova in the film “Two Captains”
The actress calls Maria Tatarinova from the film “Two Captains” her favorite film role. Although she almost refused this job. The fact is that director Evgeny Karelov invited her to play the role of Katya’s mother. At the same time, Katya was played by Elena Prudnikova, who is almost the same age as Pechernikova. Irina was offended, to which Karelov told her:
“I invited you because I need the image of a woman whom three men love all their lives.”
During these years, the actress did not leave the pages of “Soviet Screen”; publications with reviews and numerous photos followed one after another.
Among Irina’s works that are remembered by the audience is the main role in the film “At my own request.” Her on-screen partner was Evgeniy Kindinov. Soon followed by work in the film story “Man Changes Skin”, where Igor Kostolevsky, Boris Khmelnitsky, Larisa Udovichenko played. In the drama “An Extraordinary Summer” Irina Pechernikova played the role of Lisa Meshkova. And in 1981, she was expected to work in the popular Soviet disaster film by Andrei Malyukov, “Ambulance 34.” Irina then reincarnated as a stowaway passenger, and the leading roles were played by Lev Durov, Elena Mayorova and Alexander Fatyushin.
Another page in the work of Irina Pechernikova is participation in television plays. The actress represented the heroines of the productions “Pages of Pechorin’s Magazine”, “Martin Eden”, “A Month of Long Days”.
In the 1990s, the actress almost did not act, but the actress’s filmography was supplemented by a project that was positively received by international critics. Irina played in the drama Anna Karamazoff, which was later presented at the Cannes Film Festival. Together with Tatyana Drubich, Pechernikova reincarnated as an Uzbek.
## Irina Pechernikova.
From an interview with Volodya Vysotsky and we had a strange relationship. After finishing the studio, I was very... Published by Nikolai Kalugin Tuesday, September 1, 2021
Irina Pechernikova and Vladimir Vysotsky
In the 2000s, she appeared on screen twice. Pechernikova agreed to small roles in the films “Don’t Leave Me, Love” and “The Last Reproduction.” But at the same time, Irina Viktorovna claimed that she did not regret at all her lack of demand in the new century. She said that after playing the roles with Dahl and Tikhonov, it was difficult for her to look at what is called cinema today.
Viewers remembered the legend again in 2010, when she was invited to the “Beauty Formula” show. Pechernikova underwent plastic surgery, after which the actress looked surprisingly younger. This was followed by participation in the programs “Revealing Secrets. Stars”, “Autograph on Saturdays”, “Indian Summer”, “Irina Pechernikova. It doesn't hurt me." The actress was invited to the author’s project “Silver Ball” by art critic Vitaly Vulf.
Later, the actress more than once became the heroine of author's programs. In the talk show “Alone with Everyone,” Irina Pechernikova told Yulia Menshova about the main events of her life. During the broadcast, the artist recalled that at the very beginning of her film career, Leonid Gaidai offered her the main role in “Prisoner of the Caucasus.” The director approached the young actress with an offer to star in a scene with a donkey as a test for a new comedy, but Irina was then working on the role of Donna Anna in the film adaptation of Alexander Pushkin’s work, so she refused such a dubious offer. Later, Leonid Gaidai repeatedly made fun of Pechernikova when they met.
In 2021, the actress appeared on Boris Korchevnikov’s talk show “The Fate of a Man,” where she spoke in detail about how difficult her life was.
Irina Viktorovna was born on September 2, 1945 in Grozny, Chechnya. Even in early childhood, she and her family moved to Moscow. Irina adored cinema from an early age. “I have always been a “child of illusions.” Loved fairy tales: Andersen, Green. And in the movies I liked fairy tales, the same “Roman Holiday,” the actress recalled. – I skipped classes to go to the cinema. I went there in the morning for the first session. I watched the film to the end, then went to the toilet, waited there and returned to the hall with new viewers. And so the second session, the third... And all the time I thought: what happy artists they are!” Irina turned for advice to her neighbor, recognized actress Rufina Nifontova, who told the girl that acting “needs everything.” Irina began to enroll in all clubs in a row: figure skating, gymnastics, fencing. She was advised to enter the Moscow Art Theater School. A modest girl looked inside a prestigious university to look at other applicants, but unexpectedly for herself she went into the examination room and passed the competition.
While still a student, Pechernikova worked for the first time on the “adult” stage and on the film set. At twenty-one, she graduated from college and joined the troupe of the Lenkom Theater, and then appeared on the stage of the Academic Theater. Vladimir Mayakovsky and the Maly Theater. Already the first films with Irina’s participation brought her all-Union fame. In 1966, she starred in the film “The Stone Guest,” where she played Donna Anna. Her second film work, the film “We'll Live Until Monday” (1968), turned out to be triumphant. After the premiere, the actress found herself among the main beauties of the Soviet Union. She received bags of letters from fans, became the heroine of the press and television, the subject of widespread discussion and envy. Pechernikova’s popularity was consolidated by subsequent works: the role of Zinaida in the film “First Love” (1968), Lena in the mini-series “Omega Option” (1975), Princess Mary in the film adaptation of “Pages of Pechorin’s Journal” (1975), Katya’s mother in the film “Two Captains” (1976), etc. The first husband of the movie star was the famous actor Boris Galkin, and the second was the Polish musician Zbyszek Bison. Both marriages turned out to be quite fleeting.
Being at the height of fame, Irina Pechernikova did not even suspect that she would someday find herself at the very bottom. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the actress was painfully experiencing the crisis of theater and cinema, lack of work and loss of interest in her personality. Irina began to abuse alcohol and became depressed. She was brought back to life by a new love - her third husband Alexander Solovyov, whom Pechernikova met in Feodosia at an appointment with Dr. Dovzhenko. In 1997, she got married and, by her own admission, finally found family happiness. However, three years later, the actress faced a new blow - Soloviev died tragically.
The revival of Pechernikova’s creative activity began with the TV show “Formula of Beauty,” where she underwent plastic surgery: as a result, Irina became younger and reminded the modern TV viewer of herself. She began to be offered roles in films and TV series. However, the Soviet film star did not want to “sink” to the level of a third-rate product. She starred in only a few projects: “Don’t Leave Me, Love” (2001), “The Last Reproduction” (2007), “Indian Summer” (2011).
