Liliya Gritsenko is a Soviet actress and singer, equally famous both in cinema and in theatrical work. Her most famous role is Natalya Kalinina in the 1954 film True Friends. From this article you can find out the biography of Lilia Gritsenko.
Early years
Liliya Olimpyevna Gritsenko was born on December 24 (December 11 according to the old style) in 1917 in the city of Gorlovka (Ukraine). She grew up in a working-class family of railway workers, in addition to Lily, the family also had a son, Nikolai (five years older). Like Lilia, Nikolai Gritsenko subsequently also became an actor. However, in childhood, despite her innate vocal abilities, she did not dream of the stage. Her passion was architecture - while studying at school, the girl attended additional drawing classes and went to an art circle, being sure that after graduating from school she would go to enter the Kyiv Architectural Institute.
In 1930, the Gritsenko family moved to the city of Makeevka. At the new school, a school singing teacher drew attention to Lilya, who noted a vocal nugget in the girl. He persuaded her to take classesvocals, and in 1935 he sent the 18-year-old Lilia to the All-Union Olympiad in amateur performances, in which the aspiring singer took first place. After a successful performance, Lilia Gritsenko was invited to study at the Bolshoi Opera Studio, and she agreed, having studied there for two years in the workshop of Elena Katulskaya.
In 1937, Lilia decided to continue her studies at another studio, as she did not feel creative growth. Her choice fell on the Stanislavsky Opera and Drama Studio, in which the talented girl was accepted with open arms. She got into the class of the great opera singer Antonina Nezhdanova. She graduated in 1941.
Theatrical works
After graduation, Lilia Gritsenko became an actress of the troupe of the opera and drama studio (the modern name is the Stanislavsky Electrotheatre). She served on this stage until 1957, Nina became her debut role in the play "Masquerade". The roles of Fenichka in the production of "Fathers and Sons", Nina Chavchadze in "Griboedov", Larisa in "The Dowry", Nina Zarechnaya in "The Seagull", Elena Vasilievna in "Days of the Turbins" and many others became outstanding.
After leaving the Stanislavsky Theater, Lilia Gritsenko was an artist of the USSR Touring and Concert Association for three years, and since 1960 she became an actress of the Moscow Pushkin Theater, where she served until 1988. On his stage, she was able to get away from the image of lyrical heroines, which tired her in the previous theater, showingherself as a broad spectrum actress. Among the outstanding works can be mentioned Teresa ("Teresa's Birthday"), Dominica ("Romagnola"), Betty Bernick ("Consul Bernick"), Prostakova ("Undergrowth"). In 1957, the actress was awarded the title of "People's Artist of the RSFSR". The last stage role of Lilia Gritsenko was an old woman in the play "Optimistic Tragedy". She retired in 1988 at the age of 70.
Movie career
The film debut of Lilia Gritsenko took place in 1944, when she played the role of Oksana in the film interpretation of Tchaikovsky's opera. Vocal and dramatic abilities drew the attention of viewers and critics to the aspiring film actress. In 1950, Lilia Olympievna played the main role of Anna Bedford in the film Goodbye America!, and in 1952, the role of Vrubel's wife in the biographical film Rimsky-Korsakov. The fifth film in Gritsenko's career brought the actress the best role and all-Union popularity. In 1952, she played the livestock breeder Natalya Kalinina in the film "Best Friends". To this day, the actress is recognized precisely for this role.
The filmography of Lilia Gritsenko has more than forty films in which she performed both main, and secondary, and episodic roles. In addition to the above, one can distinguish Anisimova in the film "Polyushko-Field" (1956), Susanna in "Khovanshchina" (1959), Olympiad Kasyanov in the film"Retired Colonel" (1975), Elena Vladimirovna in "Long Road to Myself" (1983). The last film with the participation of Lilia Olimpiyevna was the 1988 film "Work on the Mistakes". In it, the actress played the role of the old woman Marya Sergeevna.
Other creativity
Besides acting, Lilia Gritsenko is widely known as a talented opera singer. On the stage of the Stanislavsky Theater, she performed the opera parts of Cio-Cio-san in Madama Butterfly, Parasi in the Sorochinskaya Fair and Iolanta in the production of the same name. Also, Lilia Olimpiyevna performed a lot and toured with solo concerts, performing Russian classics and modern works. It is Lilia Gritsenko who is considered the singer who returned Russian romances to the stage.
She has also acted as a cartoon voice actress. The debut, as in the movies, was the role of Oksana in the 1951 cartoon "The Night Before Christmas". Her voice also sounds in the cartoons "Flight to the Moon" (1953), "Island of Errors" (1955), "Stepa Sailor" (1955) and other projects of the 50s.
In 1967, Lilia Olimpiyevna tried her hand at directing. On the stage of the Pushkin Theater, she staged the play "The Snowstorm", in which she also played one of the main roles.
Private life
Lilia Gritsenko got married at the age of 25. Her husband was the famous director Boris Ravenskikh, who worked at the Stanislavsky Theater just at the time whenshe became his actress. On the part of the actress, the marriage was more of convenience than love. True love Lilia Olimpiyevna met only in 1957. It was the actor Alexander Shvorin, whose star had barely risen after his role in the film The Cranes Are Flying. He fell in love with Gritsenko in his youth, having seen her in the film "Cherevichki". Despite the fact that Alexander was fourteen years younger, the acquaintance of the actors soon grew into a passionate romantic feeling. After breaking up with her husband, Lilia Gritsenko also left the Stanislavsky Theater. Before meeting with the actress, Shvorin was already in a second divorce, and therefore was in no hurry with a new marriage. The actors lived together for 13 years and broke up in 1970 due to a new romantic interest in Alexander Shvorin.
71-year-old Lilia Gritsenko died on January 9, 1989. She was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery, next to her brother, Nikolai Gritsenko.
