Galina Kravchenko: biography and the creative path of the Soviet actress

Galina Kravchenko is a silent film star, a famous actress, a representative of the first issue of the State College of Cinematography (VGIK).

The beginning of acting career

Galina was born on February 11, 1905 in Kazan. Later she moved with her mother to Moscow, where she was noticed by the beginning director Vladimir Pudovkin. Fascinated by the spontaneity and beauty of the girl, he persuaded Galina to try himself in acting. Considering her his goddaughter, Pudovkin for many years carefully watched the career of the actress, helping in a difficult minute with a kind word and advice.

In 1921, Galina graduated from the Theater and Dance School in Moscow and for two years was the soloist of the ballet in S. Zimin's opera.

In 1922, Kravchenko entered the State College of Cinematography in the acting department, successfully passing the exams to the director and one of its organizers, Gardin Vladimir Rostislavovich. In it the girl studied for 5 years. The mentor of the famous first issue was Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov - a famous teacher, film theoretician and director. Together with Galina, the educational institution (now VGIK) graduated Nina Shaternikova, Eugene Chernyakov, Andrei Fayt, Ada Wojcik. In parallel with studies from 1922 to 1924, Galina was a ballerina of the experimental theater.

The first steps in the cinema

In the movies, Galina Kravchenko started acting in her student years. The film school regularly sent its students to extras, giving the opportunity to manifest themselves from the practical side. For the first time, Galina starred in the movie "Aelita". It was a small episode, which gave the talented girl a great start in the world of cinema. Then there were roles in the film "The Band of Knight" by A. Razumny and "The cigarette from Mosselprom" by Y. Zhelyabuzhsky.

The first significant role Galina Kravchenko played in the film "In the Fires of NEP" (1924), directed by Boris Svetozarov. The picture told of the moral decomposition of the business executive, who came under the influence of the Nepmen encirclement. The 18-year-old actress was invited to the role of 40-year-old woman. To the girl's perplexed question about why she gets such a high-age image and whether she can play it, the director replied that the real art is the actor's ability to reincarnate. With these words, he gave a tremendous push, from which grew Galina Kravchenko - an actress!

Biography, roles, films of Galina Kravchenko

In 1925, Galina was invited to the studio "Belgoskino". Directed by Yuri Tarich filmed the movie "Forest of the past" based on the product of Mikass Charot "Swineherd" about the opposition in 1920 to the Belarusian partisans to the Polish troops. Galina was approved for the role of the daughter of the Polish landowner Wanda.

Upon completion of her studies, Galina Kravchenko was admitted to the staff of the Mezhrabpom-Rus film studio, which for many years had become her home for her. The actress became the brightest star of this film factory: in the 1920s-1930s posters with her portraits were present in all Soviet cities. But nothing is permanent, everything in life is changing. The fashion for the movie heroes has also changed. From the screens in the auditorium were smiling cheerful Komsomol members, whose standards Kravchenko did not fit. Probably, the actress, like her colleagues of similar roles, expected oblivion, were it not for Kuleshov.

In 1933, the director invited Galina to the role of Anabel Adams in the sound picture "Great Comforter", based on the stories of O. Henry. This picture became a kind of confession of the maestro of cinema, thoroughly permeated with a piercing longing for the bright days of silent cinema. Kravchenko wittily and gracefully played a parody of the movie heroin of the 1920s, that is, herself.

Galina Kravchenko: Filmography

Soviet actresses of the 1920s had long been left in oblivion at that time. But this did not affect our heroine. Galina Kravchenko was actively filmed until the 1980s. True, the roles were completely different (elderly mothers, etc.).

From 1942 to 1943 Galina was an actress of the Russian Drama Theater in Tbilisi, and then - the Theater-Studio of the film actor. The career of the actress continued in the period of Khrushchev's thaw. True, she now played the role of aging secular ladies and Soviet mothers.

Kravchenko was filmed until the early 1980s. Good roles and even episodes were not, but the actress always remained in sight. For her there was even a new hypostasis: a living history of Soviet cinema. This role went to her by right, and Galina Kravchenko performed it with dignity and brilliance for almost 40 years. She wrote a book of memories, performed a lot on television, at parties in the House of Cinema, was in demand and full until the end of her days.

In 1980, Galina Kravchenko was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Personal life of Galina Kravchenko

In the life of Galina Kravchenko there were three marriages. The first, with the actor Andrei Fayt, did not last long and ended in divorce. In 1930, Galina married a military pilot, Alexander Kamenev - the son of a famous political figure, Lev Kamenev. A young family settled in the house of a father-in-law; Galina began to communicate with famous people of that time - Alexandra Kollontai, Sergei Kirov, Leonid Utesov, Sergei Eisenstein. In 1931, the birth of his son Vitali. Lev Borisovich was shot in 1936, Alexander - in 1937, mother-in-law Olga Kameneva - in 1941. For Galina, a kinship with the Kamenevs turned into a ban on filming in the movies.

In 1939, the actress was married to a Georgian director Nikolai Sanishvili, from whom she gave birth to her daughter Karina.

Galina Kravchenko's son was arrested in 1949 and sent to Karaganda for 25 years. Vitali was rehabilitated in the mid-1950s, allowing him to return home. The link severely undermined the health of the young man, and he died in 1966. After the Kamenevs were repressed, the road to the big cinema for Galina was closed.

March 5, 1996 - the day when Galina Kravchenko died, the actress with a capital letter, who managed under the influence of the changes to rebuild correctly, to become a legend of Soviet cinema during her lifetime.