Soviet acting legend passes away
Published 07 July, 2008, 10:24
The accaimed Russian actress Nonna Mordyukova has died at the age of 83. She passed away late on Sunday. Known for a number of different but equally distinguished works in Soviet cinema, Mordyukova was considered to be one of the outstanding actresses of the 20th century.
Born in a small Cossack village in the Donetsk region, Noyabrina Mordyukova dreamt of becoming an actress from an early age. Though initially her plans were blocked by the World War II, by 1946 she had made it to the State Institute of Cinema.
A year before her graduation she had already made her breakthrough in the 1949 film, The Young Guard, based on the novel of the same name by Soviet writer Aleksandr Fadeyev. Starring alongside many soon-to-be-famous Soviet actors, Mordyukova landed a prestigious State Award of the USSR.
Mordyukova went on to win a vast number of awards for her outstanding roles in films like Yekaterina Voronina, The Volunteer, Balzaminov's Marriage, Zhuravushka, The Kinsfolk, Mother and They Fought for Their Country.
However, her most celebrated work was the virtuoso portrayal of a typical Soviet executive worker – a house superintendent – in the most popular Russian comedy of the 20th century, The Diamond Arm. Many of the superintendent’s catchphrases voiced by Mordyukova entered the general idiom of modern Russian language, such as:
‘Should they refuse to buy [lottery tickets], we’ll cut of the gas supply’, ‘Maybe in London a dog is in fact man’s best friend, but up here it’s the superintendent who’s man’s best friend!’, ‘Our kind never takes a taxi to the bakery!’, ‘People should be trusted only in an extreme case of emergency’.
Her last work in a movie came in 2001. In recent years she had suffered from a number of illnesses which prevented her from working actively.
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