In December 1981, shortly before the celebration of Brezhnev's jubilee, the star of Soviet cinema Zoya Fyodorova was shot in the back of the head in one of the houses on Kutuzovsky Prospekt. The fate of the actress in those years was much recalled in the Western press. Fedorova spent many years in prison only because she had the imprudence to start a love affair with a US citizen named Jackson Tate. They did not overshadow the anniversary of the Secretary General with unpleasant news. Not a word was said about the murder of the actress in the Soviet press. The crime has not yet been solved.
Star of Soviet cinema
The biography of Zoya Fedorova resembles the plot of a movie drama. Her star rose in the mid-thirties, after the premiere of the film "Girlfriends". Then there were the pictures "Wedding", "Miners", "On the border". Twice the actress was awarded the Stalin Prize. She was often invited to important receptions in the Kremlin. After all, Fedorova was a symbol of Soviet cinema. At one of these receptions, the US Navy officer Jackson Tate met the actress.
Fedorova and Beria
The actress enjoyed the favor of those in power. Beria himself was among her admirers. But the head of state security unsuccessfully tried to win her sympathy. Once he invited Fedorova to his mansion. After a glass of champagne, Lavrenty Pavlovich tried to take his relationship with the artist to a more serious stage. However, the girl rejected him. When Zoya left the luxurious mansion, she waved to the failed lover with a bouquet that he presented to her and said “Thank you for the flowers!” To which Beria replied: “These are not flowers. This is a wreath.”
Several films have been created about the fate of Fedorova, many articles have been written and even several books have been published. There are three versions of her death. But none has been officially confirmed. However, there is no doubt that Jackson Tate, whom the meeting took place in the last year of the war, ruined the career and personal life of the Soviet film actress. However, the American diplomat didn't do it on purpose.
Admiral
Jackson Tate, whose photo is posted below, began his military career as a private. He became one of the first naval aviators. After the war, he was promoted to vice admiral.
In 1945, an American officer arrived in the Soviet Union as a deputy attaché. There was a meeting that Jackson Tate remembered until the end of his days. The biography of this man was extremely interested in the employees of the Soviet intelligence service in the seventies. Acquaintance with the Soviet actress led to events that were worthy of Hollywoodplot.
Fateful meeting
Zoya Fedorova and Jackson Tate met during an official reception at Molotov's. The actress had already been married by that time. However, there was no love in her life. Perhaps the presence at the ill-fated reception was not accidental. There is an assumption that the actress was recruited by the NKVD. She attracted the attention of foreigners, could dispose to frank conversations. But Fedorova was not only a famous actress, but also an ordinary woman. And therefore, when I saw a tall handsome officer, I completely forgot about my mission at the official diplomatic evening.
Their romance lasted a little over two months. One day in May, the actress was unexpectedly sent on tour along the Crimean coast. When she returned to Moscow, Tate was no longer there: he was declared persona non grata and, as a result, was forced to leave the country in a matter of days.
It's been a few months. Fedorova married her compatriot, musician Alexander Ryazanov. Soon a child was born in a young family. With this marriage, the actress tried to hide the consequences of a relationship with a foreigner. Jackson Tate, the father of Victoria Fedorova, found out that in 1946 his child was born in the Soviet Union in the seventies.
Arrest
No matter how hard the actress tried to hide the name of the father of her child, everyone knew about her connection with foreigners. A fictitious marriage with Ryazanov, who, risking his career, tried to save her, did not save her from arrest. Late at night there was a knock on the doordemanding, persistent. Everyone knew who knocked at such a late hour. Fedorova opened the door, saw people in leather coats and heard the wild word "arrest".
She was not allowed to say goodbye to her daughter, who was only a few months old. Zoya Fedorova - the famous actress, the pride of Soviet cinema - was tortured for several days in the dungeons of the Lubyanka. She was thirty-seven years old. Behind the actress's back are twenty roles played in the cinema, the love of fans, a life that is quite comfortable by Soviet standards. She was not one of the persistent and enduring heroes of Shalamov's or Solzhenitsyn's books. Therefore, she confessed to all the crimes of which she was accused. And then, in solitary confinement, she attempted to commit suicide.
Daughter
After severe beatings, the once brilliant actress woke up in a prison hospital and learned about the sentence: twenty-five years in the camps. Sister Fedorova was sent along with her daughter Victoria into life exile. Another relative was sentenced to ten years. All of them, including a one-year-old child, were accused of espionage.
But in 1955, the actress was released under an amnesty. Then she saw her daughter for the first time in many years. Victoria did not know that the woman who hugged her so passionately was her own mother. And therefore, when asked by Zoya about whether the girl knows who she is, she answered: “You are my aunt.”
Victoria after school entered the theater school. She became, like her mother, an actress. The director of the film, in which Victoria made her debut, claims that the life lived forever imposed an indelible, painful pain on the character of this girl.imprint.
In the late sixties, Victoria managed to leave for the USA and meet her father. Admiral Jackson Tate passed away in 1978. After his death, Victoria published a biographical book that reflected all that she and her mother had to endure.
The murder of Zoya Fedorova
In December 1981, the actress was murdered in her own apartment. According to one version, Fedorova was involved in the affairs of the so-called diamond mafia. Investigators found an environment in the apartment of the murdered woman, clearly indicating an imminent departure. Indeed, the actress was going to leave the Soviet Union forever. In the West, Fedorova was extremely famous. Her name was regularly covered in the American press as the name of one of the victims of Stalinism.
The investigation progressed slowly. But the MUR officers were not able to solve the case. In one of the last interviews, Victoria Fedorova said that she knew the name of the killer. She died in 2012 without naming him.
Who shot the actress? Why did this person's name have to remain a mystery? No one will answer these questions.
