Natalya came to the shooting of the program "First Persons" for the TNT channel at the National Hotel. Your correspondent worked as a leader there. She was very simple and dignified. She looked just gorgeous. lost weight after plastic surgery. No extra wrinkles, no fat. Her eyes were full of life, energy just radiated from her. The only thing that bothered me was her irresistible desire to smoke. “Yes, smoke right in the frame,” I suggested, “many of us do this.” - “No, what are you,” she shook her head reproachfully, “I can't upset the fans. They are used to seeing me differently.”

- How do you, such a pleasant woman in all respects, make ill-wishers?

I think it's because I reserve the right to tell the truth. I either don't say anything at all, but if they ask me, I don't consider it possible to dissemble somehow. Well, who likes the truth ... There is such a wonderful anecdote about this, when one actor asks another: “You know, I only trust you, well, tell me, how did I play the premiere?” - “Are you honest?” - “Honestly, because only you will tell me the truth!” - “Honestly, it sucks…” - “Nah, I'm serious…” Maybe I will seem very arrogant, but no talented people who would have no detractors.

- How do you react to them?

I believe that the only way I have to deal with all the negativity around me is to do my job well. I don't know any other way to get revenge. If I manage to play a decent role, I believe that this is my revenge. I will not pour salt under the threshold.

- The feeling of envy is not inherent in you at all?

It is inherent, but it is different. For example, I see a woman who is well, stylishly dressed, smartly combed. Then I see her a second time and understand that this is her way of being. She is like this. Or I watch some actress in a role and suffer: well, why shouldn’t I have this role, how I would like to play it ... And why do I think so? Because she plays well too. I, perhaps, would not have seen this role if I had just read it. And I saw it because she did a great job. And then I yearn, envy that I do not have such a role or similar to it.

- What role do you dream of?

Best of the day

I never dreamed about roles. Of course, I choose when I am offered 10 scenarios. But the director sees me in this role, and in no other. And then, no matter how much I want to play Juliet, he sees me as the Nurse, and I have nowhere to go. You see, I always tried not to think, I tried not to dream. I thought that the coming day would bring me something, that God would not leave me, the viewer would not forget me, and somehow my crooked path would nevertheless take me onto a bright path.

- Acting world aggressive?

No matter how hard you try to show everyone what a self-sufficient person you are, in demand, if you sit at home or do some trifling things, if you run around some small things, parties, these dens ...

- What do you call nativity scenes?

This pastime I call a nativity scene. Empty, it brings nothing to the soul or mind. Yes, and the body just physically wears out. Such a crazy pseudo-active existence harms, it seems to me, the actors. Here is a flicker, moreover, meaningless, useless, giving nothing to anyone, not bringing anything ... When people forget about their profession - this is where, in my opinion, the most tragic moments of an actor's existence begin.

- Do you like to philosophize?

I have lived my life and I reserve the right to think. I have a time when I walk from my house on Tverskaya to the theater. 35 minutes I walk to the theater. This is what I call my time. At this time, I answer my own questions. I ask myself questions of various kinds. Who will be the president. How prices will rise. About working on the role. I try to answer all these questions for myself. When I answer them, then, in principle, a meeting with a journalist is then no longer difficult. It's like I've thought of everything. This is not philosophy. With the power of thought, when there are so many dens around me, I force myself not to go there, not to squander myself. I'm sort of saving myself for something. Maybe I will remain an unfilled vessel - well, that means that such is my fate. But I still aspire to a full life. I understand that my life is running out. Well, as if she lived more than half her life. And I don’t want to do it like this, from the shoulder: ah, now I’m going to go all out - they invite you to this bar, here are gifts, they will give you a fountain pen, here is chewing gum ... Well, I can’t afford it. Because I love myself very much, and I love myself so directly, right from morning to night. And because of this, I don’t allow myself so much!

- Invent your own world?

I don't confuse life with theater. Life is one thing, and I believe that life is beautiful because it is life. And the theater is beautiful because it is a theater. It seems to me that it is a very great misfortune for some actors when they confuse these two concepts. They can’t play anything on the stage, but in life you just can’t stop looking at it. But you get tired of these very quickly.

- You do not like merry fellows?

Time has scattered people so much, shaken them so much... Everything is like fragile boats on these waves of the worldly sea... So I turn on some kind of program, I look. And now everyone is joking, joking, everything is sad, but everyone is joking. Is it all so funny to you? When a person goes on stage and starts telling jokes - a professional pop performer! Yes, he is a joker, well, not to the extent that he tells jokes about the back seat. Well, probably, we need to prepare some kind of program. People laugh, but how can I tell you ... I believe that we rise during life, our task is to rise, and not fall. Otherwise, why go somewhere? I do not understand this: why is there such a wild stupidity of people sitting in front of the TV? We used to listen to what accent the announcer would put, and we learned from them. Well then, let's all say: “doors”, “linoleum”, let's burn Dahl's dictionary on Red Square, let's!

- Can you lie?

No, it's hard to lie, your eyes start to run. 28 years in the theater, it would seem, like an artist, but as a lie - I feel, the pupil is trembling and my eyes are running around. Well, of course, I won’t say to a cancer patient that he is hopeless, and if my friend comes after a sleepless night and says: oh, I look so bad today - and she needs to perform ... I say: what are you, okay, I even I was surprised, you said you didn’t sleep until three, but you look very decent! But I understand that she needs support now ... In general, I can’t lie.

- Well, didn’t you lie as a child?

Mom caught it once. I went, as it was called, on an extended day. On Saturday we were taken to the cinema, and at home they gave me 50 kopecks. I collected them, went to GUM and ate ice cream, with a pea, very tasty. And one day my mom caught me on this. We got off the bus together, although I, in theory, was supposed to go on the other side. "Where have you been?" To my misfortune, my mother was also at this film, which, it seems, I was at. There was such a scandal at home! Until I screamed like crazy. (She never beat me, once she hit my ass with her palm - I sobbed for three hours - it was such an insult and humiliation of my human dignity! It was scary, I didn’t want to live.) And then I squealed: what, you can’t even eat ice cream ?! My pain spoke to me. (Laughs.)

- Were you spoiled as a child?

They never particularly fussed with me, they didn’t call Natasha. Natasha and all.

- In honor of whom were you named Natasha?

I left the hospital with this name already. Like any newborn, I had such a huge head. But they say that I still had a mouth more head, and I yelled accordingly. And when they rolled in a stroller with children for feeding, my mother says that the nanny in the maternity hospital just threw me to her with the words: take your Natasha! When my mother left the maternity hospital with me, I already responded to this name, and my father said: well, let it be Natasha.

- Why do you look so good?

And there's nothing left for me to do.

- You are in great shape, did you manage to lose weight?

And I eat myself, from morning to night, so I lost weight.

- Seriously, diet?

Well, she made some efforts, but such, not cruel ones. I didn’t take pills, I think it’s harmful (then the so-called Thai pills were in vogue. - EN). And so something “died”. I lost weight for a long time - more than a year.

- Do not eat buns, sweet no-no?

Well, what are you, I really love puff buns with cherries. When one of the girlfriends comes, they say: well, how is it, you seem to be losing weight? what about buns? I answer: stupid, what is not clear - this is my vitamin: B1, B2 ...

- How do others react to your updated appearance?

Detractors' jaws drop when they see me. And my friends are very happy.

- Do you travel a lot, have a rest?

Well, my husband and I are going somewhere, but I cannot say that I am a traveler. I once sailed on a ship. I thought that I would go crazy in this closed space, where the same people. I am a very sociable person, but I need a place where I can be alone. In general, I believe that whomever God wants to curse, he rewards with loneliness. But I love solitude, I need places where I could retire.

Have you ever thought about leaving the theatre?

There were when they were rehearsing the play “Running”, there was a conflict. I played Lucy. The runs have already started, but Andrey Alexandrovich Goncharov made very few comments to me. And now such a decisive run-through, a dress rehearsal, and after that he suddenly tells me - he makes comments, comments to everyone, and then he says to me: I don’t have anything to say to you at all, you rehearsed monstrously today, you have some kind of home directing. I say: what home direction ... while I'm in this church - I pray to this god. He does not listen - we are with him in two voices. He suddenly began to say: don’t scare me that you will leave me (this is after the words “while I am in this church”). And he started yelling at me, and I got up and left. I went to change clothes, came home and I think: I’ll leave the theater, since he talks to me like that ... Well, how is it - for 20 days of the run he didn’t make a single comment (I would review it), and suddenly on dress rehearsal Am I doing everything wrong?! There are failures, but not to the same extent. I thought, thought: no, I decided, I will still find the strength in myself and tomorrow I will come to the rehearsal, and if he says at least one word to me, I will turn around, leave and write a statement. I came, got dressed, we all went on stage. He came up and said: now let's start with the scenes, there, “Lyuska - the sixth dream”, looks at me and says: rehearse, please. And he didn't tell me anything else. We didn’t apologize, didn’t suck up, just said: rehearse, and I began to rehearse ... And so I never had to leave. Because I am still from the servicemen - I am impassive, I am patriotic, I love my Motherland, I love my theater. Well, indeed, Goncharov managed to create an amazing aura in the theater. When Goncharov was in the theater, I actually felt good.

- Does life force you to do something? Are you forced to somehow keep yourself, submit, control?

Yes, sure. You see, climbing to the top is easier than descending from it. But staying there is even harder. Because in principle, if you want to go down, you can move out of there and at the fifth point. The hardest thing in life is holding on.

- What would you like to wish yourself and the audience?

Every morning, when I get up, I wish myself one thing - to survive. Because we are born into this world, and God gives us all the possibilities, and as long as we are not pulled apart from the outside, we keep this God's breath. I would like every person to keep this in himself. I would like to wish patience, love. I would like to thank the audience, because I understand - as long as there is at least one person who sits in the auditorium and watches what I do, my profession becomes immortal ...

Blitz interview

Natalya Georgievna answered all these questions in the affirmative.

Lifestyle - constancy in the family, in the choice of the theater?

native Muscovite?

Doesn't remember all his roles in cinema and theater?

28 years at the Mayakovsky Theater?

Yeltsin congratulated on the 50th anniversary?

Role in the movie - a sincere woman with an unsettled personal life?

Deputy from the "Women of Russia" in the first Duma?

Couldn't combine politics and theater?

Does art necessarily require sacrifice?

Are there detractors?

Are you ruthless in your assessments?

Favorite Thought: God can help you, but only with your help.

And only to the question: “Is there no big role for you today?” - with a sigh she said: “Not yet!”

Late 90s. Summer. For a few days, Natalya Gundareva arrives on tour in Israel. Exhausting 40-degree heat on the first day brings it to a critical state. The audience has already filled the hall, and Natalya lies backstage and the doctors categorically insist on her hospitalization. And when the issue was already finally resolved, she suddenly said: "No, I will play."

"Natasha came out and played, and it was so talented, sparkling ... It was some kind of miracle, she played to a standing ovation, and on absolute improvisation. She went backstage - and that's it ... Then she was taken to the room, and we all night they were on duty there and looked at how she was,” recalls Igor Kostolevsky. Everything worked out that time. But there are more than a dozen such stories in the life of the actress Gundareva, because the main thing for her has always been work. She sacrificed a lot for her.

After the role of a mother of many children in the film "Once 20 years later," Natalya Gundareva received letters from all over the country in bags. Women admitted that looking at her, they decided to give birth and thanked Natalia for the example that she set for them. Although the actress herself had no children. In the mid-70s, Natalya could become a mother, but at that moment she was first offered several leading roles in theater and cinema at once, and Gundareva terminated her pregnancy. Later, in one of her interviews, Natalya admitted: "As long as I do not feel the need to have children, I do not feel their absence, the theater replaces them for me."

For almost 30 years, Natalya Gundareva reigned without exaggeration in the Mayakovsky Theater. The theater was everything for her - a home, a family, a favorite hobby, although Gundareva became an actress by accident. Natalia's parents divorced when she was still young. On the advice of her mother in the last grades, she transferred to study at an evening school and went to work as a draftsman. Then she entered MISI. But the actor Viktor Pavlov, whom she met in an amateur theater, did not allow Gundareva to become an engineer. He persuaded Natalya to try to enter the Shchukin school. Since at that moment her mother was away, Natasha made up her mind and easily passed the competition of 250 people for a place.

In the documentary, viewers will see rare footage from an archive video - excerpts from her interview, a performance by student Natalya Gundareva at a theater school, and hear the memories of her classmates and teachers. Everyone who knew Gundareva as a student unanimously claims that she was already a great actress then.

After the release of the film "Lonely is provided with a hostel," people's rumor married Natalia Gundareva and Alexander Mikhailov. Just as then everyone was sure of her novels with Sergei Shakurov and Viktor Proskurin. But all these actors were her lovers only on the screen. And in life, Natalia, falling in love, gave herself to this feeling all, without a trace. She was married three times. Immediately after the institute, Gundareva was invited to audition for the director Leonid Kheifetz, and Natalya conquered him instantly. She was 24, he was 38. Soon they got married in the Beijing restaurant. The bride was without a veil and in a green dress, but she was completely happy and loved.

Six years later, Kheifets and Gundareva divorced, and Natalia began an affair with a theater colleague, actor Viktor Koreshkov. She played with him love scenes in "Lady Macbeth" Mtsensk district", and then married him. But the second marriage lasted less than a year. Gundareva was 38 years old when she married actor Mikhail Filippov. Before their relationship began, they worked together for many years, but each had their own personal life. In his book dedicated to Natalia, Mikhail writes: "We met just in time, it's a pity that it's late." Gundareva lived with Filippov for 19 years, she called Mikhail her only husband. In 2001, when Natalya fell ill, Mikhail literally did not leave her Protected from annoying journalists, helped to learn to walk again.

In one of recent interviews Natalya Gundareva said: “The soul is cheerful, it’s true, but all the impressions that I bring to the stage are connected with torment for me. Life is still a tragedy, because the ending is tragic: we die ... It seems to me that that from the inside all people are unhappy and lonely ... ". Natalya Gundareva passed away, having lived only 56 years. But this was enough for her to remain in the memory of millions of viewers as a great actress and a wonderful person.

Some participants in the film talk about their personal impressions of communicating with Natalia Gundareva.

Svetlana Nemolyaeva, actress:

Natasha, according to her external and internal data, is a Russian beauty. She was very self-sufficient, independent, the only one on whom main director theater never raised his voice. This was the subject of terrible envy, because we were all shouted at, but never at her. As soon as I started work, I immediately started a notebook, copied my role into it and entered all the director's comments and notes. If Goncharov began to argue with her, she said: "No, no, Andrei Alexandrovich, I have it written that you told me to go in that direction and take such and such a mise-en-scene." In general, it was individuality, personality and great, great talent. In the theater, many people remember her, and it is impossible to forget her.

Dmitry Brusnikin, actor, director:

Natasha was such a unique actress and irreplaceable person that her place is still free and no one will ever take it. She had no role, she could be funny, and beautiful, and sexy, and whatever. She was real, real, that's all. I worked with Natasha in "Petersburg Secrets" - a long series directed by Leonid Pcholkin and Vadim Zobin. And then Pchelkin and I made the series "Salome" together, where Natasha played as an actress, and I was already a director. She was absolutely obedient, she never suffered from star fever, she did business on the site, she was always ready to work. She loved order and accuracy very much, she was a super professional. Previously, there was such a tradition: when the actor finished filming, he set the table. In general, no one followed this rule, but Natasha continued to do it. She laid the tables, invited lighting engineers, sound engineers, directors, artists, extras to the table, and everyone celebrated her last shooting day. She was the queen...

Elena Molchenko married the famous actor Alexander Fatyushin in 1986. Many said that it was a marriage of convenience. By that time, the artist was already known throughout Soviet Union, and Elena studied at the theater school. The young student did not know that Alexander Konstantinovich had secretly met with Natalia Gundareva for several years. The artist could not forgive the betrayal of her lover.

“It was not a romance, it was more than a romance. She called him Shusha. Moreover, Sasha took an active part in Natasha's life, they had a relationship. Let's just say I didn't fit in. Therefore, when she found out that we decided to marry Sasha, she almost fainted, ”said Molchenko.

Gundareva and Fatyushin served together in the same theater, played the role of spouses in the cinema. Even the actor's mother accepted Natalya Georgievna as a daughter-in-law. But the actor, seeing the young student Molchenko, decided to choose her as his wife.

The lovers invited Gundareva to the wedding. The actress thought for a long time. As a result, Natalya Georgievna was among the guests. And even made a toast to a former lover.

“I hope that Shurka will not let us down,” Gundareva told the newlyweds.

Elena and Alexander Konstantinovich lived together for almost 20 years. As Molchenko admitted, only in marriage did she find out that the actor suffered from alcoholism.

“Sasha comes from a family with good noble roots, but his parents ... His father was a taxi driver, his brother was a taxi driver. They were simple Ryazan taxi drivers ... It would be strange if he spent his childhood in the library. Sasha was very fond of feasts with friends, ”Elena shared.

Fatyushin and Molchenko never had children. The actor's widow explained that Alexander Konstantinovich was not eager to become a father. “Such a topic ... I can’t say that we were delirious as a child. It just seemed odd to us that he wasn't there. We went to the doctor, he said everything was fine. Well, we agreed on that. I have never experienced the agonizing craving to have children. In the end, I always repeat: everyone’s life is different,” Molchenko said.

Fatyushin died in 2003 in his apartment. The actor was an ardent football fan. When his heart stopped, he was watching the match. Alexander Konstantinovich foresaw death, a few weeks before leaving he wanted to confess in the church. “Yes, it was about three weeks. He said: “I will go to our neighboring church and confess. He returned, the temple would be closed for repairs. I tried somehow not to open his insides, I didn’t ask what was wrong with him ... Sasha, if I may say so, for 17 years life together prepared for his departure, ”Molchenko shared.

Actress Natalya Gundareva was born 68 years ago

"Somehow my little son, and after five minutes he, without hesitation, showed Natasha his toys. They took pictures together that day. I printed twenty of these photographs, brought them to the site and said: “Natasha, write on each:“ To my little friend Petya’s beloved teacher, as a keepsake from Gundareva! He will soon go to school, it will come in handy.

She laughed and signed. But, as it turned out, I even underestimated the effect. The first few school years(until the photos ran out) the teachers treated my son not only favorably, but downright adored him, called him super-capable! - recalls film producer Alexander Malygin.

She loved children very much, and she had everything to become a wonderful mother, but it didn’t work out.


And all her tenderness, love, sincerity went to the audience. And for this, the audience paid her absolutely crazy love:

“Once, on the set in Rostov, Gundareva asks: “Sasha, take me to the market. A familiar seller promised me good caviar there.” I look, she takes two huge wicker baskets with her. I ask: “Is this all for caviar?” - "You'll see. It will come in handy." She was without makeup, put on glasses, a hat ... It seems that you don’t recognize her. But as soon as we entered the market, word of mouth spread that Gundareva was here. And fruit fell into these baskets from all sides ", butter, sausage, vegetables - everything! By the time we got to the caviar, the baskets were filled to the top. Well, they sold the caviar to Natasha, of course, for some ridiculous money. And so I dragged these baskets to Natasha's room, so she took the jars of caviar and says: “And bring everything else to the film crew, let the guys sort it out.” - “How so?” - “What did you think, did I take all this for myself?” - Alexander Malygin in an interview with 7days.ru.


Today is her birthday. And I won't talk about her husbands or anything else, no less personal. I won’t, because Natalya Gundareva herself once said:
“I look at the actors whom I have unlimited respect for: Mikhail Ulyanov, Marina Neelova, Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Alisa Freindlikh ... And I don’t notice that they make their lives public. They are democratic, but do not allow familiarity. And someone is the opposite. But it seems to me that excessive frankness comes from the desire to keep popularity when there is nothing to keep it. When a person is not self-sufficient, uninteresting to himself, and there is nothing to imagine along the creative line, endless scandalous publications begin.


To remember the brilliant actress and the most beautiful woman, Not needed scandalous stories, we just need our grateful memory.


GUNDAREVA NATALIA GEORGIEVNA

Honored Artist of the RSFSR (March 5, 1980).
People's Artist of the RSFSR (02/07/1986).

She grew up on the noisy and always crowded Taganka, in a family where work and knowledge were valued. "I inherited from my parents: paternal prudence, that is, a real understanding of the moment, and on the other hand, my mother's such intolerance - to do it at all costs." The love for the theater was passed on to her daughter from her mother - she free time She played in the amateur theater of her institute. At first, Natalya Gundareva played in the school drama club, and in the 8th grade she enrolled in the theater at the city Palace of Pioneers. But she never considered herself as an actress, believing that the theater is not for her, it seems, they say, and fun, but the appearance does not inspire much hope, so let's be realistic. In the 10th grade, she moved to night school and got a job as a draftsman in a design office, preparing to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a designer.
In 1967, she began to take the entrance exams at MISI and, most likely, she would have entered. But as it sometimes happens, chance intervened. Natalya's friend, Viktor Pavlov, who knew her from the amateur stage and believed that she had a real dramatic talent, persuaded the girl to give up her thoughts about a career as a designer and instead go into actresses.
In that 1967 competition at the Theater School named after B.V. Shchukin was huge - 250 people per seat. Natalia successfully passed the exams and was enrolled in the course of Yu.V. Katina-Yartseva, together with Yu.G. Bogatyrev, N.V. Varley, K.A. Raikin, V.V. Tikhonov. In her second year, Natalya Gundareva brilliantly played Domna Platonovna from Leskov's "Warrior Girl". After that, as they say, the rector of Shchukinsky Boris Zakhava exclaimed: "Gundareva has nothing to learn - it's time to go on stage."

In 1971, when she graduated from college, four Moscow theaters offered her work at once: the Moscow Art Theater, Sovremennik, the Vakhtangov Theater and the Mayakovsky Theater. During her studies, she immediately singled out the Mayakovsky Theater from all academic theaters, where she watched Okhlopkov's "Aristocrats", "Death of Tarelkin" directed by Pyotr Fomenko, "Rout" directed by Mark Zakharov and Andrey Goncharov's performances "Children of Vanyushin" and "Tramway" that stunned her “Desire.” Therefore, out of all the proposals, she chose this particular theater and stayed in it for the rest of her life, which she never regretted.
At first she played episodes and small roles: Vanyushin's daughter Katya in Vanyushin's Children, Vasilisa Odintsova in Maria, Varka in The Thought of a Briton.
The first significant role of Natalia Gundareva, which was talked about by the audience and critics, was the role of Lipochka (the play "Bankrupt" based on the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "Own people - let's settle", 1974). Already in this work, the bright talent of the actress, who knows how to work not only with "juicy strokes", but also use the subtlest psychological motivations, declared itself.
In 1978 A.A. Goncharov put on the stage of the Theater named after Vl. Mayakovsky performance "Running" by M.A. Bulgakov, where N.G. Gundareva played Lyuska, the "marching wife of General Charnota," finding new colors for her heroine, which made Lyuska one of the main characters of the play.
In 1979, she played Katerina Izmailova in the play "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" based on Leskov. Among the significant works of N.G. Gundareva initial period it is necessary to name Marfenka in the television version of the novel by I.A. Goncharov "Cliff" (directed by Leonid Kheifets).
New significant works of N.G. Gundareva on the stage of the Mayakovsky Theater marked the 1980s: Larisa Sadofyeva ("Molva" by Afanasy Salynsky), Madame ("Agent 00" by Henry Borovik), She ("I'm standing at the restaurant ..." Edward Radzinsky). It was during this period that N.G. Gundareva, and she plays less in the theater, especially in the late 1980s - late 1990s. Last work in the theater there was the role of Lettis in the play "Love Potion" (1997).

Natalya Gundareva began acting in films since 1966. But the real debut of the actress is considered to be 1972, when she played the main role in the village melodrama Vitaly Melnikov "Hello and goodbye!". This was followed by such well-known works as Dusya ("Autumn" by Andrei Smirnov), Anya Dobrokhotova ("Sweet Woman" by Vladimir Fetin, this role required considerable experience from the actress - Gundareva played three different women, three different fates through which her heroine comes to herself), Tasya ("Wounded Boys"), Katya Nikanorova ("Citizen Nikanorova is waiting for you"), Nadya Kruglova ("One day twenty years later").
In 1979, Natalya Gundareva played Nina in the film by Georgy Danelia, written by A.M. Volodin "Autumn Marathon", for this work Natalya Gundareva was awarded the State Prize of the RSFSR (1980). Matchmaker Vera from the lyrical comedy "Hotels are provided for the lonely", the director of the orphanage Alexandra Ivanovna Vaneeva from the TV play "The Hostess orphanage", singer Melnikova in the tragicomedy" Winter evening in Gagra" - these and many other roles of the actress became dearly loved by viewers.

July 18, 2001 on own dacha near Moscow, the actress had a stroke. In recent years, she was seriously ill, hoping to recover and return to the stage of her native theater, but the miracle never happened.
Natalya Georgievna Gundareva died on Sunday morning May 15, 2005 at the age of 57 in Moscow. buried great actress May 18 at the 6th section of the Troekurovsky cemetery.

About the life and work of the actress created documentary"Natalya Gundareva. Our Natasha" (2008, produced by "Winter Production").

The first husband is director Leonid Efimovich Kheyfets (born 1934).
The second husband is the theater and film actor Viktor Koreshkov (1952-2011).
The last husband is theater and film actor Mikhail Filippov (born 1947).
PRIZES AND AWARDS
Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV degree (02/03/1998).
State Prize of the USSR (1984) - for the performance of the roles of Sadofyeva in the play "Molva" by A. D. Salynsky and Katerina Lvovna Izmailova in the play "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" by N. S. Leskov.
State Prize of the RSFSR named after the Vasiliev brothers (1980) - for playing the role of Nina Evlampievna Buzykina (film "Autumn Marathon").
Lenin Komsomol Prize (1978)
Prize of the President of the Russian Federation in the field of literature and art (2002).
The best actress of the year according to the polls of the Soviet Screen magazine (1977, 1981, 1985, 1990).
Prize of the IX International Film Festival in Bulgaria (1981).
Nika Award for Best Actress in 1990 ("Dog Feast").
Award for Best Actress at the IFF in Montreal, Canada in 1990 (“Dog Feast”).
Prize "Diamond Crown" of the All-Russian Festival "Constellation" (1990, "Dog Feast").
Moscow Prize (1994, for participation in the play "The Victim of the Century").
Prize "Crystal Turandot" (1996).
Independent award "Idol" (1999).
IFF "East-West" award in Baku for the best female image (2000).
International Theater Award named after K. S. Stanislavsky for his contribution to theatrical art (2001).
Prize Russian Academy cinema "Golden Eagle" in the nomination "Best Actress of the Year" for the film "Rostov-Papa" (2003).

And we said "hello" to her

INITIALLY Natalya Gundareva was not going to become an actress at all. Although her parents were obsessed with the Moscow Art Theater and played amateur performances, and for the actress herself, the real shock was seen in the same Moscow Art Theater children's performance"Blue Bird" huge amount the magic there. True, like many girls, she collected postcards with portraits of actors and "idolized" someone. However, Gundareva decided to follow in the footsteps of her mother, who had a technical education, and for a start, due to a conflict with one of the teachers, she went to study at night school. At the same time, she got a job as a draftsman in a design bureau, was engaged in the reconstruction of reinforced concrete ceramic plants - then seniority was required to enter the institute. By the way, in the design bureau the future actress was in such good standing that she was transferred from an ordinary draftsman to the position of assistant project manager.

WITH financial security it was not particularly easy for the family living in the Taganka communal apartment.

Ever since I started earning money myself, - Natalya Georgievna shared her "most intimate", - I have got into the habit of putting off a "stash" from the paycheck. I'm used to stability. But since childhood, I have had a fear of being someone's debtor. I really dislike borrowing money. If I don’t have extra money in my purse or in a nightstand or in a tureen (whoever keeps it where) I don’t have extra money, not millions, but just for expenses, I get scared, I feel defenseless. Until I started working, my mother and I lived in debt. Of course, on payday, after half the debt was paid off, Mom would buy a cake or a chicken and we would have our own little feast. But I still have this fear. We did not live in poverty, but modestly, and when mom and dad separated, it became even more difficult to live. I lifted the loops on stockings (at that time they were expensive) to my mother's friends. I was paid 50 kopecks or even a ruble for this. She sewed skirts and dresses for herself.

Who knows, maybe Gundareva could become a really successful engineer - after all, she diligently entered the preparatory courses of the Moscow Institute of Civil Engineering. But a case intervened in the fate of the girl, as a result of which the USSR lost a future technical worker, but instead found a future people's artist.

Viktor Pavlov, knowing Gundareva by her roles in the drama circle, suggested that the girl apply to the Shchukin school. And, in the end, she agreed to "go try", though more out of curiosity than seriously. The competition then was 247 people per seat.

In 1972, the film studio "Lenfilm" released a film based on the script by Viktor Merezhko "Hello and Farewell".

When we decided to get acquainted with Gundareva, - Viktor Merezhko later recalled, - she amazed us. It was not at all what we are used to in our novice performers. Neither infantilism, nor deliberate fatigue, nor any general certainty - for some reason it is believed that there is a mystery and perspective in this. Gundareva attracted to her cheerful optimism, quite determined and very provocative femininity, undisguised pressure of fresh, unused creative forces. She somehow immediately discouraged you with her naturalness, unadorned and "unpainted", which was also not very common in a young actress. After all, today (by the way, maybe after Gundareva?) the fashion for external artlessness and natural beauty. And in the early 70s, as we remember, “painted” divas in trousers walked the streets and the screen, and among them Gundareva with unpowdered freckles and not at all a “dietary” figure seemed a miracle. And we said to her: "Hello!"

The actress herself, speaking about this film work - the barmaid Nadenka, was categorical: "When I looked at myself in this role, I was horrified: the screen has not yet been invented to fit my back."

I knew Natasha for a very long time, - Sergey Shakurov said, - in the film-performance of Leonid Kheifets "The Cliff", where we first starred together, she was still a student. Subsequently, we repeatedly met in a number of films - "Private File of Judge Ivanova", "Statute of Limitation", "Dog Feast", "Two Arrows". And, I must say, the ensembles were successful. The most famous joint work is the performance of the Mayakovsky Theater "I'm standing at the restaurant".

For a magnificent creative relationship with Natalya Gundareva, Shakurov had to pay with a break with his wife Tatyana, who was endlessly jealous of her husband for Gundareva, not wanting to believe that there could only be sincere friendship between the actors. Due to a break with his family, Sergei Kayumovich ended up in the hospital with a severe hypertensive crisis, and the same Natalya Gundareva saved the actor from depression. She took upon herself the trouble of arranging it. new apartment, and also helped Shakurov to stay "afloat" in difficult perestroika times for actors: she herself found roles for him, went on tour with him. This devoted friendship in the acting environment was treated with respect and admiration.

Work has won

PERFORMANCE "Profitable place" was the last joint work Natalia Gundareva and her husband Leonid Kheifets. True, over the six years of their life together, the existence of each of them has changed dramatically, even purely in the household plan. For example, before his marriage, Leonid Efimovich lived ... in the Theater Soviet army- right backstage. But when he began to develop a serious relationship with Gundareva, he began to fuss about real housing.

Then it happened like this: on Tverskaya Street they built a house especially for the actors, in which the couple received an apartment, where they settled. For L. Kheifets, this was especially convenient - at that time he was mainly engaged in staging performances at the Maly Theater, that is, he was not far from walking to his place of work. Undoubtedly, this was a great advantage, but, on the other hand, due to the fact that the theater was located not far from the director’s house, he often led the entire troupe to his home right after the performance. Of course, such hospitality touched the actors, but for the director's wife, who had already become super-famous, such rituals were a burden.

That is, initially Gundareva welcomed the guests with joy. But then this hospitality began to be given to her with difficulty. After the film "Sweet Woman" she was bombarded with offers of new roles, she was very tired, acting in 5-6 films at the same time, and then there were guests, moreover, almost every evening! When she heard the sound of the unlocked door and the way her husband shouted from the threshold: “Natasha, set the table!”, then for the sake of this she had to sacrifice rare minutes of her own rest. Gundareva complained to one of her friends: "And here I am standing in the kitchen and peeling potatoes. I'm so tired of the master's worries. I can't take it anymore! That's it, my love is over!"

At that time, Gundareva practically had no one to even consult with or to shift the range of her household concerns to someone. Natasha's mother could not help her daughter - she herself just got married for the second time. And Gundareva understood: she would have to choose - either work or family. After six years family life, she decided to divorce: for both spouses, the work won.

"I suffered to my heart's content, and they suffered with me ..."

GIRL Natasha was not at all embarrassed by her fullness, although she looked a little older than her years because of this. Broad-boned and tall, she dressed very modestly. Despite her fullness, she attended the basketball section, ballroom dancing, and ran skiing. Often in windy weather she went without a hat, proving to everyone that she was "frost-resistant". And later, at the school, the student Gundareva tirelessly engaged in stage movement and choreography, as if in retaliation to teachers who said that fullness would limit her acting abilities.

Once Gundareva got into a car accident. But she had barely recovered from her injury when she got behind the wheel again. A. A. Goncharov, having learned that after the accident she again drives a car on her own, asked: "Natasha, are you again proving that you can do anything?"

The actress herself compared her life with the Olympics, when each participant strives to follow its law: "The furthest! Above all! Best of all!"

In 1979, luck, as they say, pursued all the works of Gundareva. One of these unconditional "fortunes" was the release of the film "Autumn Marathon" directed by Georgy Daneliya based on the play by Alexander Volodin.

Here is an excerpt from an interview with the actress in the newspaper "Soviet Culture":

“I suffered to my heart’s content, and they suffered with me, they reshot a lot. it was restrained, with hidden pain, which can be "louder" than violent sobs ...

Nina taught me a lot, I fell in love with her, as you love everything that is born with great difficulty. I penetrated into her state when she sits on long dreary evenings alone at the TV, with fear frozen in her eyes: what if today her husband Buzykin, kind and sowing only suffering around, announces that, finally, he is completely leaving for another? And one day, when the scene had already been filmed, and I still could not stop crying about the fate of my unfortunate Nina, Danelia said: "Because of these tears, it was you who had to play Nina." This is where the hearing and vision of a real artist affected - Danelia knew long beforehand what they would be, these tears.

There is still such a tale in Shchukinsky: as if the sophomore Gundareva played the age-old role of Domna Platonovna in Leskov's "Warrior Girl" so vividly in the skill exam, that the then rector Boris Zakhava, who played the role of Kutuzov in the epic film "War and Peace" directed by S. Bondarchuk, exclaimed in admiration: "Gundareva has nothing to learn - it's time to go on stage. I'm ready to give her a diploma right now!"

The year 1980 was remembered by all of us by the holding of the Olympics in Moscow. And for Natalia Gundareva, it was memorable also because this year she set her "Olympic record". Films in which she starred simply poured onto the screens of cinemas - eight films, every month and a half - a new role. Record!

First film - White snow Russia", which told about the brilliant chess player, world champion, as his contemporaries called him - the "chess king" Alexander Alekhin. leading role starred actor Alexander Mikhailov. And Natalya Gundareva played the wife of Alekhine.

A Russian noblewoman, a brilliantly educated woman, Nadezhda is very hard going through separation from her homeland in exile, and an absurd death in a car accident became almost a deliverance for her.

To say that I liked working with her, - Alexander Mikhailov recalled about filming with Natalya Gundareva, - it means to say nothing. She is a very interesting and talented person.

The film "White Snow of Russia" was the "starter" in the collaboration between Gundareva and Mikhailov. Then they played together in the film "Lonely people are provided with a hostel" and in one of the series of the series "Connoisseurs are investigating."

Popular rumor, as once with Shakurov, "married" Gundareva and Mikhailov. So much so that, it happened, the administrator called Alexander Yakovlevich to invite him to perform at a concert, and he would definitely bow to his “wife Natalya Georgievna”, that is, Gundareva, and even add that, they say, she can also perform with him. And no one paid attention to the fact that in the same "Olympic" year, a film adaptation of Molière's "Imaginary Sick" was released, where Gundareva starred along with her real then-husband. True, she had the main female role, and he had an episodic one.

Actor Viktor Koreshkov, the hero-lover who played the role of Sergei in Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, became her second husband. Their romance developed rapidly in front of the entire troupe, and the wedding was celebrated in the most modest way - both were busy with work. At first new family Gundareva, seemed to be safe. But... the hero-lover on the stage transferred his experience to behavior in life. The marriage broke up.

But if Natalya Georgievna remembered L. Kheifetz with great respect, even calling him from time to time, she preferred not to remember her second husband.

One of the most famous works directed by Yuri Yegorov was the picture "Once Twenty Years Later" - about the fate of a woman raising ten children.

The appearance of this picture was a real state order, because the birth rate was falling in the country. Then it was decided to make a film about a large family, so that people would think: maybe 10 children are good, maybe this is happiness?

Egorov was a meticulous person, he even decided to visit real large families and see how they really live. In the district party committee of one of the districts of Moscow, he was given a dozen addresses large families, and the director was shocked by what he saw: in most families, alcoholic parents, children, like cockroaches, crawl on the floor and play with bottles. But an order is an order, and another beautiful fairy tale has come to our screens. Of course, her success was largely due to the choice of performers, in the first place - Natalia Gundareva, who played absolutely harmoniously mother of many children, and Viktor Proskurin as the father of the family.

Secular "parties" they called the nativity scene

AS Natalya Gundareva once said, the main thing that a popular actor should do is to preserve his talent. For example, she openly called the appearance at fashionable secular "parties" obligatory for many modern actors a den, according to her deep conviction, such a pastime is empty, since it brings nothing to the soul or mind, but the body physically wears out prematurely. Like, here they invite you to a bar, here they will give gifts - either a fountain pen, or chewing gum. Does a serious actor need all this?

Natalya Georgievna had a rule - on the day when she had a performance scheduled, she tried to walk from her house, located on Tverskaya, to the Mayakovsky Theater, which overlooks Bolshaya Nikitskaya. Such a journey always took her about 35 minutes, which she called "my time." During this period, the actress had the opportunity to be alone with herself and think about many things. But she didn’t allocate time for “dens” in her life - why waste yourself when, on the contrary, you need to love and take care of yourself.

Natalya Gundareva has never advertised her personal life. There were reports in the press, for example, that all the furniture in her house was designed exclusively in dark colors, the curtains were always closed, she did not like the light, she lived in twilight. Her husband is the brilliant actor Mikhail Filippov, a short, stocky man with the appearance of Napoleon. By a strange accident, Mikhail Ivanovich was born with him on the same day, and he played his role on the stage of the theater in the play of the same name by Bruckner. Before Gundareva, M. I. Filippov was married to the daughter of the powerful head of the KGB, Yu. V. Andropov.

Mikhail Filippov, with whom the actress entered into marriage in 1986, became the main person in the life of Natalia Gundareva. Natalya Georgievna met him at the theater: then she was already considered a prima, and Mikhail Ivanovich had just come to the theater (before that, he studied at the philological faculty for four years, then graduated from GITIS). Gundareva admitted that at the beginning married life her husband was jealous of her fame, and therefore they had problems, but over the years, the couple found a common tone. Gundareva said: "We are saved by the absolute dissimilarity in everything. I think that if people are similar in everything, then very soon they will become bored with each other." The personal life of the actress was definitely in second place after the theater. Natalya Georgievna loved doing housework, knitting, cooking, painting intricate flowers and still lifes with watercolors, but because of her work, she constantly did not have enough time for all this.

Once and for all life

IN THE LAST theatrical season, Natalya Georgievna worked in her usual tense rhythm, when it seems that every day lived is the last. Maybe she thought that the strain she was putting on her health had already become the norm, and in such a state, as a rule, it is difficult to stop, look around and take a breath. It seemed that there was no such force that could stop this great worker of the Russian stage. So, in the 2000/2001 season, the actress of the Theater. Mayakovsky, Natalya Gundareva played roles in three performances - Glafira Firsovna in Victim of the Century, Ogneva in Theatrical Romance and Lettice Duffay from Love Potion.

She was faithful to both her director and her theater, comparing her attitude to the theater with her attitude to her family, to marriage: "once and for life." After all, Natalya Georgievna even usually spent holidays in the theater. The actress almost always turned out to be busy in performances that take place on the evening of December 31 - on New Year's Eve.

In one interview, when asked by a journalist about how she starts her day, Gundareva ironically answered: "A hand reaches for my head and pulls me out of bed by the hair."

IN last years Natalya Gundareva often starred in television series, embodying the image of business woman middle-aged. Slender, beautiful, fit, she moved away from the role of a rude simpleton, which "outweighed" the actress in the old days. One of her last roles, Marina's psychologist in the TV series Love.ru, should be attributed to such projects.

Director Vladimir Vladimirovich Basov says:

She, of course, was the highest professional and incredible endurance. Judge for yourself, out of 48 shooting days - July - August - she is busy in 40. Her work went on every day, and then we shot almost 18 hours a day.

We filmed the series in a progressive way - in huge chunks. Natasha had long scenes when she had to say a lot of text at once. Three cameras were installed, and she worked on each of them. It was difficult, even mistakes in the text were fraught with big reshoots. But that's what Gundareva's high responsibility means! There was never a time when she spoke her text with errors or even stumbled. Well done! We then shot all the scenes with her just from the first take. The most talented actress!

There were legends about Gundareva's responsibility during her work. Because of this, many associates claimed she was easy to communicate with. Natalya Georgievna always came to the theater early - an hour and a half before the start of the performance, prepared for it very seriously, went down to the stage before the other actors and, standing backstage, listened to the noise of the hall, trying to guess its current mood. But one day with her, so obligatory and fanatical in her work, an absurd incident happened: she ... forgot to come to her own performance. On this day, she saw off her friends abroad and just got distracted from the constant rhythm. The next day, the director of the theater called her, and the unsuspecting Gundareva, thinking that they wanted to congratulate her about the upcoming assignment of the title of people, came to him in a good mood.

Gundareva came to the authorities, sat down, crossed her legs, smiled and prepared to listen to what they would say to her. Then the following dialogue took place between them: "Well, Natashenka, what are we going to do?" - "Well, I don't know, we'll probably be scared to walk." - "Natasha, do you understand what happened?" - "What happened?" - "Natasha, you didn't come to the performance yesterday, you know?" Then the meaning of the conversation reached Gundareva, everything went cold inside her, she became ill, and she lost consciousness.

Natalya Gundareva did not consider herself a superstitious person, but she had one exception: she really did not like to meet a cleaning lady with empty buckets backstage before the performance. She claimed that once in childhood she was told: if you see a person with an empty bucket, then it will not come true, what he planned, it will be “empty”.

N. G. Gundareva met her 55th birthday in the hospital and managed to be an official pensioner for a while.

Alas, 2005 turned out to be rich in losses: at the beginning of the year, Russia lost the wonderful actress Clara Luchko, and in May, beloved Natalya Gundareva died.

NATALIA Gundareva belongs to the generation for which there were high ideals, maybe that's why she became so loved by everyone that each of her characters, in addition to the unique personality of the actress, her charm, intelligence and generosity, also carried the features of those same ideals. When today you review films and performances with her roles, you invariably find in them more and more new features - modern, alive. This means that most of the works of Natalia Gundareva were directed to the future, and her artistic "message" was very accurate, if its echo still reaches the viewer.

You can often hear now: "Gundareva played so many roles - from barmaid to queens, that she managed to play enough in her profession."

May be so. I managed to play. We just didn't get to see it.