Tatyana Okunevskaya is a bright star of Soviet cinema, a favorite of leaders and ordinary spectators. Her fate was unusual, in many ways tragic and consonant with the difficult era in which the actress happened to live.
Short biography and career
Tatyana Okunevskaya was born in 1914 in a fairly wealthy and very friendly family. However, at a very young age, she had to experience hardships and upheavals - the girl’s father, a former police bailiff, sat in prison three times and was forced to hide. Having lost the breadwinner, the family was in poverty, Tatyana was expelled from school as the daughter of a "hostile element" and a deprived person. The mother had to arrange a fictitious divorce and attach the girl to another school, whose leadership turned a blind eye to the dubious biography of the new student.
After graduating from school at the age of 17, young Tatyana worked as a courier, while simultaneously studying at evening courses. Both classes were not to her liking, the fate of the girl determined the case. For her spectacular appearance, she was invited to act in films, the first episodic shootings showed that this beautiful girl has a great future.
The first big motion picture was “Pyshka” by Mikhail Romm. The audience and the director appreciated the work of the aspiring actress, and the next proposal was not long in coming. The most striking role of Okunevskaya was Tonya Zhukova in the film "Hot Days". After the release of the film, Tatyana became a real star. However, she was not limited to a film career, creating many vivid images on the stage. The popularity grew, the actress enjoyed interesting roles and recognition of fans.
The triumph of the young actress was interrupted by 1937. It began with the sudden arrest of father and grandmother. Already in the 50s, Tatyana found out that the closest people were convicted and shot very quickly. The actress herself received the stigma of an "enemy of the people" and was immediately removed from all productions. A hard time came, Okunevskaya had to think about how to live without work, having a mother and a little daughter in her arms. In this difficult period, she was saved by a hasty marriage with the successful writer Boris Gorbatov, who enjoys patronage in the highest circles. The husband’s name again opened the way for the actress to the cinema, she successfully starred in the films "May Night" and "Alexander Parkhomenko."
During the war, Okunevskaya participated in concerts, together with her husband went to the front. After 1945, the shooting continued, for 3 years Tatyana starred in 3 films. Work in the cinema was accompanied by tours, including abroad. A real triumph awaited the actress in Yugoslavia - she was received by Marshal Josip Broz Tito, fascinated by the talent and beauty of Okunevskaya.
A sudden shock for the actress and her loved ones was a sudden arrest on the personal instructions of Abakumov. The wording was rather vague: the actress was accused of anti-Soviet propaganda. There is an opinion that such a decision was influenced by the cooling of relations with Yugoslavia and the personal hostility of Lavrenty Beria. The actress spent 13 months in a cell, after which the verdict was announced - 10 years in the camps.
In 1954, the sentence was reviewed; Okunevskaya was released and rehabilitated. She returned to the theater to them. Lenin Komsomol, which served before the arrest. At the same time, she starred in the movie - on the account of Okunevskaya about 17 diverse roles. However, she failed to repeat the pre-war success - Okunevskaya forever remained a half-forgotten star of the 30-40s. The actress was not upset by such a creative fate. Until she was very old, she retained a spectacular appearance and an extraordinary mind, was keenly interested in modernity, and was very concerned about her health. She earned money by participating in national concerts, traveling to the provinces, speaking at concert venues and in clubs. The last year was very difficult - during the plastic surgery, Okunevskaya contracted hepatitis, which caused bone cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. The actress died in 2002 at the age of 88 and was buried in the Vagankovsky cemetery next to her mother.
