Anastasia Zueva - fairytale master of the episode

Her role in the classification, adopted in theatrical environment in ancient times, is called "comic old woman". But the true lovers of theater and cinema know that they were available to express in the role all the facets of human nature. They appreciate everything that has been preserved from her works: films and video recordings of performances. And even a small spectator of the XXI century knows this actress: Anastasia Zueva in the form of a storyteller from the classic Soviet movies, which children love and watch, and now remains in memory for a long time.

A young lady of peasant origin

She was born in 1896 in the village of Spassky, Tula Province. Anastasia Zueva's father was a master craftsman who owned many professions - from a blacksmith to an engraver, so their family was considered to be prosperous. The head of the family died early, and his widow quickly married a gendarme officer, so Nastya and her sister were given upbringing to their aunt. She was a strict woman of conservative views, so when, after attending gymnasium, her niece announced her desire to become an actress, she spoke out against it.

But the girl showed her character and still went to audition at the School of Dramatic Art. It went well, and Anastasia Zueva was accepted. The indignation of a strict relative was so great that for a while she drove her niece out of the house. The aunt softened only when she found out that Nastya liked teachers very much, and she was accepted, as an exception, for free education.

Actress of the second generation of the Moscow Art Theater

In 1916, Anastasia Zueva entered the 2 nd studio of the Moscow Art Theater. It was a famous theatrical school. Transformed from a private theater school, led by the Mkhatovites, the three Nicholas - Massalitinov, Alexandrov and Podgorny - it left the brightest trace in the history of the domestic theater. Her repertoire was dominated by modern plays, and the director's methods were truly innovative. The first production - "The Green Ring" based on the play by Zinaida Gippius - made a furor among the leading Moscow society.

Those who were Zuyeva's classmates later formed the core of the main Russian theater troupe - the Moscow Art Theater - in its second generation. Olga Androvskaya, Nikolay Batalov, Alexei Gribov, Boris Dobronravov, Boris Livanov, Mark Prudkin, Angelina Stepanova, Alla Tarasova, Mikhail Yanshin - these names not only thundered throughout the country for many decades, but also, thanks to the foreign tours of the Moscow Art Academic Theater Theatricals around the world. Anastasia Zueva, despite the fact that she was an acute actress and rarely played the leading roles, took a worthy place in this series.

Little roles of the big actress

The studio students started participating in the Mkhatov productions before the revolution, but officially in the famous troupe Anastasia Zueva, an actress of a certain role, was enrolled in 1924. In it, she served 62 years, having experienced with the theater times of unthinkable fame and difficult crisis periods, inevitable for any creative team.

Her work in the plays of the classical repertoire - in the performances of Ostrovsky, Gorky, Chekhov - delighted colleagues, critics and spectators. The role of Matryona played by Zuyeva from the staging of Tolstoy's "Sunday" struck Gorky, who turned to her with words of admiration. Later, she played in the famous adaptation of Mikhail Schweitzer, making his episode one of the most piercing in the film.

Unforgettable Box

There is a role in which the best qualities of the artistic gift inherent in Anastasia Zueva were manifested. Starting to work in Bulgakov's adaptation of Gogol's Dead Souls, Anastasia Platonovna showed herself to be a loyal follower of the Stanislavsky system. In addition to penetrating into the psychology of the "landowner-child", she used her life observations, in her Box - the features of people familiar to her or accidentally seen on the street. She carefully worked on makeup and clothes, using expressive details.

As a result, a character appeared that aroused enthusiasm among the audience for half a century. She played this role on the Mkhatovskaya stage until her death, played on the stages of many countries and continents. For many Korobochka can not have a different appearance, a different voice, other gestures. Fortunately, this work of the actress can be enjoyed in the classic 1960 film adaptation.

Star of the movie episode

The works of the actress are few, but surprisingly expressive. For many directors, and then the audience, there was only one embodiment of an elderly Russian woman - kind or evil, reasonable or absurd, funny or touching - Anastasia Platonovna Zueva. Films with her participation invariably became popular, bringing wide popularity and the actress.

The words from her roles went to the people. The phrase of the unforgettable widow Merchutkina: "I am a weak woman, defenseless ..." from the short film on the Chekhov vaudeville "Jubilee" (1944) should be pronounced, imitating Zuyev's voice and facial expressions.

Surprisingly harmonious was the appearance of Zueva in the image of the narrator in the films of Alexander Rowe. "Fire, water and ... copper pipes" (1968), Varvara-Krasa, long spit (1969), Golden Horns (1972) - the world of these tales would have been poorer without the amazing grandmother-narrator, who, speaking in modern language , Brand.

Talent is the only news ...

Contemporaries recall that they knew little about women who evoked such interest from others as Anastasia Zueva. Photos of the actress in youth speak about the absence in her of classical female beauty. But her charm did not leave many men indifferent. Among the admirers of her artistic and female talent were such different personalities as Valery Chkalov and Boris Pasternak. The latter devoted several poems to her, and the lines of one of them - "Actress" (1957) - became classics:

The times are hardened by severity,

Lose the novelty of the word.

Talent is the only news,

Which is always new ...

Her life is a superfluous confirmation of the old truth: to live a bright life, leave a trace in the memory of descendants, it is not always necessary to play only the first roles. The main thing is talent and dedication to your work.