Lyudmila Gurchenko life and biography

Lyudmila Gurchenko was a popular Soviet and Russian actress, singer and entertainer.

She moved to Moscow to attend the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) and achieved overnight fame and celebrity status at 21 after she starred in young Eldar Ryazanov's 1956 directorial debut, musical Carnival Night. The film was enormously popular and made Lyudmila famous overnight. Throughout the next two years she toured the entire country with her Carnival Night-inspired musical numbers, attracting crowds of fans.

The Soviet cultural establishment, however, deemed her style too western and too out of line with Soviet standards. She was accused of receiving above State-set wages as compensation for her shows. She became the target of highly critical articles in several influential Soviet periodicals, including Tap dance to the left and Dositheos morals devoted to her financial wrong-doing and her alleged lack of patriotism. 1958 saw the release of another musical with Lyudmila, A Girl with a Guitar (Devushka s Gitaroi), shot mostly before these articles were published. The musical was not recommended for a wide distribution and was a box-office flop. This, in the eyes of the establishment, further justified branding Lyudmila as a one-hit wonder, not worthy of serious movie roles. According to the customs of the time, such branding effectively meant a ban Lyudmila's involvement in cinema and theater for several years.

For the next two decades Lyudmila struggled to get leading roles in new movies, while making a living by travelling all over the country with her stand-up acts and musical numbers.

In the mid 1970s Gurchenko starred in several films, which, although only moderately successful, helped showcase Lyudmila's dramatic talent. Finally, in 1979 she landed a role in director Andrei Konchalovsky's Siberiade and in 1982 in Station for Two, once again by Eldar Ryazanov, who by then had become one of USSR's most popular and prolific directors. The role of the forty-something waitress Vera in this touching film became Gurchenko's long-awaited comeback as a superstar of Soviet film. Subsequently, she starred in several more movies and TV shows. Her multifaceted talent was recognized on many occasions. She received the title of People's Artist of the USSR, the highest honour that could be bestowed to a musical artist, in 1983. In 2000, she was awarded the 4th Degree Order for the Service to the Motherland, one of the highest civil decorations in post-Soviet Russia (with 3rd and 2nd Degree Orders having been awarded to only very few extremely distinguished individuals, and the 1st Degree Order being nominally held by a serving President of Russia). At age 70, Lyudmila still acted in the theater, and was frequently seen attending galas, appearing on TV talk shows, and performing at concerts. She maintained her iconic status, especially among the older generations, but was often a subject of jokes among younger audiences due to her over-the-top public persona and her deliberately "youthful" image.

Lyudmila was married twice, including a short-lived marriage to legendary Soviet crooner Iosif Kobzon in 1969. She had one daughter, Maria, born in 1959 from her first marriage, and two grandchildren as well as one great-granddaughter.

On March 13, 2011, Gurchenko fell near her house and broke her hip. She was taken to the hospital and underwent an operation the following day. On March 30, her condition worsened – either due to the operation or a heart seizure – and she died that evening. She will be buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Filmography:

Pestrye sumerki (2010)
Premiya Muz-TV 2005 (2005) (TV)
Starye klyachi (2000)
Starye pesni o glavnom 2 (1997) (TV)
Prokhindiada 2 (1994)
Sekskazka (1992)
Gardemariny III (1992)
Vivat, gardemariny! (1991)
Nasha dacha (1990)
Imitator (1990)
Moya moryachka (1990)
A byl li Karotin (1989)
Ozhog (1988)
Mechtateli (1987)
Prokhindiada, ili beg na meste (1984)
Aplodismenty, aplodismenty... (1984)
Lyubov i golubi (1984)
Magistral (1983)
Retsept yeyo molodosti (1983)
Polyoty vo sne i nayavu (1982)
Shurochka (1982)
Vokzal dlya dvoikh (1982)
Lyubimaya zhenshchina mekhanika Gavrilova (1981)
Otpusk za svoy schyot (1981) (TV)
Idealnyy muzh (1980)
Sibiriada (1979)
Osobo vazhnoye zadaniye (1979)
Pyat vecherov (1979)
Poznavaya belyy svet (1979)
Ukhodya - ukhodi (1978)
Krasavets-muzhchina (1978) (TV)
Vtoraya popytka Viktora Krokhina (1977)
Obratnaya svyaz (1977)
Prestuplenie (1976)
Ma-ma (1976)
Sentimentalnyy roman (1976)
Dvadtsat dney bez voyny (1976)
Nebesnye lastochki (1976)
Dnevnik direktora shkoly (1975)
Shag navstrechu (1975)
Volshebnyy fonar (1974)
Otkrytaya kniga (1973)
Dver bez zamka (1973)
Dacha (1973)
Deti Vanyushina (1973)
Starye steny (1973)
Tabachnyy kapitan (1972) (TV)
Tsirk zazhigayet ogni (1972) (TV)
Ten (1972)
Korona Rossiyskoy imperii, ili snova neulovimye (1971)
Odin iz nas (1970)
Moy dobryy papa (1970)
Doroga na Ryubetsal (1970)
Belyy vzryv (1969)
Rabochiy posyolok (1965)
Stroitsya most (1965)
Zhenitba Balzaminova (1965)
Jalgrattataltsutajad (1964)
Gulyashchaya (1961)
Chelovek niotkuda (1961)
Baltiyskoe nebo - 1 seriya (1960)
Roman i Francheska (1960)
Baltiyskoe nebo - 2 seriya (1960)
Devushka s gitaroy (1958)
Doroga pravdy (1956)
Karnavalnaya noch (1956)

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